The Arena

So Long, Dear Friends

2011-05-22T20:12:00.002-05:00

We lost two very dear friends today. Two friends who have been with us since Day 1 of our marriage. Two friends who have faithfully followed us from Charlottesville to Fairfax, to another apartment in Fairfax, and finally, to Arlington. However, after six faithful and exciting years, our journey together has come to an end.

So long, awesome red couches, so long.

Hopefully, trips to our various apartments over the years have been known for good food, interesting conversations, and plenty of laughs. However, other than a yappy and semi-annoying dog, our apartments have been mostly known for our red couches. They were our anchor and our centerpiece. They were also our very first major purchase as a couple. Plus, many have slept on these couches over the years, including Amanda, as she sought refuge here during quite a few "grumpy" evenings.

Alas, as we'll be moving to our new home in less than a week, it was time to finally say "goodbye." We were originally going to sell them on Craigslist, but a wonderful newlywed couple in our church LifeGroup wanted these beauties, and so they are staying in the family.

Goodbye, red couches, thanks for the memories.

Someone Like You

2011-05-16T19:53:00.004-05:00

Dearest Adele,

Thank you. We needed Someone Like You. Desperately. Although I very much love our world full of cheesy pop stars and hip-hop artists, it's hard to find much soul, rawness, depth, and emotion in the latest hit from Britney, Usher, or Gaga. In our Ke$ha-filled world of auto-tune, dance beats, and synthesizers, it is marvelously refreshing to hear you rock out with a piano, microphone, and one stunningly awesome and amazing voice. Here's to hoping you keep doing your thing for decades and that you're able to steer clear of Amy Winehouse. We need you. Desperately.

Thanks,

A.M.

PS-Sorry, Britney.

Daily Perfection

2011-05-11T23:27:00.000-05:00

Although it's not New York City or Paris, DC has a ridiculous amount
of superb restaurants. Whether it's a soulful and grungy Ben's Chili
Bowl or an enthused and lively Lauriol Plaza, the dining options are
just about endless.

In fact, within a few blocks from my office, you can probably get your
eat on at 40-50 different establishments (having three food courts
nearby doesn't hurt). Although Chop't, Potbelly's, Cosi, random food
trucks, and free meals at the office have powered me through the last
eight months, with the rays of spring pleasantly warming the
afternoon air, I have a new go-to destination.

Or obsession.

FroYo.

I'm not sure how Michelle Obama, Dr. Atkins, or Shaun T. would feel
about this, but sorry, dudes and First Dudette, it's the truth. I've been
eating "ice cream" for lunch just about every day these past two
weeks. When faced with the choice of eating another sandwich or salad
for lunch OR a big ole' bowl of frozen yogurt covered with Oreos,
coconut, and white chocolate chips, the answer is obvious. Plus, a
trip to Fro(zen)Yo is $2-4 cheaper than hitting up a more traditional
lunchtime eatery. And if my (rough) calorie estimations are somewhat
accurate, it's "close" to a wash nutritionally. Close.

So, if there is ever an emergency and you need to reach me between
1:45-2:15pm on a weekday, I'll likely be at FroYo. 10th and G Street. But you better not interrupt my "lunch."
I take my frozen yogurt seriously. Very seriously.

A Date with Destiny

2011-05-10T20:22:00.003-05:00

It is good to have goals in life.

Graduating from college. Getting married. Owning a house. Making babies. Becoming an expert in your field. Running a marathon. Losing weight. Traveling the world. Beating Halo in a single sitting. Going to the Super Bowl. Retiring at 65. Living a life of service. Not eating the entire package of Oreos. Earning enough money to be able to give it all away. Writing a book. Meeting Britney Spears.

What?

Yes, meeting Britney Spears.

This will come as no surprise to anyone who has known me since 1999, but I'm a bit of a Britney Spears fan. Although other starlets, such as Katy Perry and Justin Bieber, have tried to steal my awe and attention, none have been (completely) successful. And, on July 31st, that big ole' life goal, which reaches back nearly a decade before there were even Bucket Lists, I'm crossing that seemingly unobtainable goal off my to-do list.

Armed with a backstage pass, a scheduled meet-and-greet, and a front row ticket, I'll finally be meeting the Princess of Pop. Although I'm certainly not the obsessed fan that I was in high school (I could never fully recover from Britney's "What's up, West Virginia?!?!" comment in Virginia Beach in September 2000), my excitement level is immeasurable. Not only because I'll be meeting Britney Spears, but even though it is a terribly cheesy life goal, being able to reach such a far-fetched wish is pretty exciting. Heck, having the chance to rock out with a backstage tour, meet-and-greet, and front row experience with a semi-lame musician, such as Josh Groban, would still be super cool. But with Britney Spears? Let's just say that I only have 1117,890 minutes left until the big night.

Since twelve years of waiting demands a unique outfit and a memorable "pickup" line (I'm not just wearing jeans and a t-shirt and saying, "hi, i'm a big fan."), I've already got both all planned out. With this life goal soon to be crossed off my own Bucket List, I'm not quite sure what's left for me in this world. Except for Goal #2: getting on stage with Britney and dancing to "Slave 4 U."

Duh.

The. End.

2011-04-30T07:37:00.003-05:00

Gentlemen, unless you're Matthew McConaughey, you have to wear a shirt just about every single day of your life. For most of us, at least five times a week, that means we're wearing a dress shirt. They can be uncomfortable, they can be boring, they can be billowly. But after thousands of years of efforts, they can also be perfected.

Proof.

Let me introduce you to Charles Tyrwhitt, which should be your new go-to hotspot for affordable dress shirts. In addition to a slightly burdensome name, Charles T. offers gorgeous, comfortable, and well-fitting dress shirts. Even better, you can get them for a really good price. Similar to Jos A. Bank, it seems like the entire "store" is always on sale and the prices are quite good. You can certainly find cheaper dress shirts at a few other stores. You can also find finer and fancier dress shirts elsewhere too. However, Charles T. unquestionably offers the best value and you will not be disappointed.

Prior to our trip to Budapest/Vienna, I received a random brochure from Charles Tyrwhitt. I instantly fell in love with a few of the shirts and became absolutely smitten when I saw some of the "first time customer" prices. All I needed to do was enter a simple code and these "$150" dress shirts could be mine for $30-40 a pop. Five pops later and I had just acquired a few new toys.

I was welcomed back home to a box with these five new shirts. I loved them so much that I was Charles Tyrwhitting every single day last work week. As I've said many times, if you want the best pants you've ever owned, go Bonobos. Nothing else comes close. If you're looking for some great dress shirts, look no further than Charles Tyrwhitt. I guarantee that you will find no better bang for your buck.

So Long, Friend

2011-04-28T20:00:00.003-05:00

I know it's a little pathetic to be overly sad about the "end" of a fictional television show, but it's been a great run. Tonight, after seven years, Michael Scott walks away from The Office. Although the show will limp on for another year or two, this is certainly the true end of a show that has been so good, and so funny, for so long. It's provided hundreds of laughs over the years and has often been a hilariously priceless break from the "real world." In fact, one of the best days of my life was one special lazy Saturday when I watched 19 episodes of The Office in a single day.

So, Michael Scott, thanks for the memories. It's been a long and fun ride.

(That's what she said.)

Well, that was fun...

2011-04-27T20:24:00.008-05:00

Well, that was fun. We spent the past week or so hanging out in two marvelous European cities: Vienna and Budapest. Unquestionably, it was probably the longest week of my life, as it seems like we were there about a month, but when you’re talking “vacation,” the longer it feels, the better.

Since my days of describing the details of each day of our travels are long gone, below are just a few random thoughts I have about our most recent adventure.

-After hanging out in Egypt, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia during the past two years, it was nice to spend some time in some westernized and insanely clean European cities.

-However, I desperately miss the prices offered in those former countries, as well as the extreme adventures, history, and cultures found therein (ie-crawling through a 5,000 year old pyramid, riding elephants in the jungle, hiking through the rainforest, etc.)

-I’m so thankful for a job that gives me the opportunity to travel. I expected to only really take 3-4 day “trips” during my first few years on the job, so taking more than a week off to explore some interesting new land was such a blessing.

-I’m also thankful for a wife and close friends that are willing to join me in these adventures.

-We walked a lot. A whole lot.

-One of my travel companions inexplicably walked all those miles in a pair of black dress shoes.

-Despite all that walking, I still gained an unfortunate amount of weight during the week. Largely due to the fact that…

-The food was crazy good. Memorable indulgences include all the goulash (a soup in Hungary; a stew in Austria), the sausage stands in Vienna, the Turkish kebabs and rice pudding in Budapest, the endless supply of Haribo gummy snacks, and, somewhat ironically, McDonald’s.

-Amanda and I go to McDonald’s about five times a year. We went a dozen or so times during the past week. Never for any meals beyond breakfast, but we couldn’t resist their free Wi-Fi, ridiculous milkshakes, flavored waffle fries, and air conditioning. On two nights, the entire group hung out there for a few hours and played Hearts. On the latter occasion, a manager told us we had to stop and that such activities were not allowed. Meanwhile, a hundred Euro teenagers were causing a ruckus throughout the place. Alas, we were the hoodlums.

-Celebrating Amanda’s 28th birthday with a great Mexican feast, sangria on the street, a private bowling alley, and an insane amount of Turkish rice pudding was priceless.

-I largely picked Budapest as a destination because I thought it would be a more interesting, grittier, and cheaper alternative to some of the usual European hotspots (Paris, Prague, etc.) Wrong. We were lovingly greeted by a gorgeously ornate, decorative, and modern city, which was cleaner than any I’ve ever seen. It was also remarkably tranquil. In fact, during our four days there, we heard one car horn. One. In contrast, I heard 3,000 a day in Cairo, Bangkok, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City. Additionally, it was also really nice not having dozens of people always coming up to us and trying to run various types of scams.

-Vienna was also wonderfully clean and even at a higher level of grandeur than Budapest. Some of the streets in Vienna are best compared to the lacey decorations on a wedding cake. So many intimate details, so fine, so beautiful.

-Both the Budapest and Vienna metros put DC’s to shame. Although Budapest’s was a leftover Soviet relic, both were remarkably prompt and regardless of the time of day, we never waited more than four minutes for a car. We also never saw a broker escalator. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a fully functioning escalator in DC’s metro system.

-The Vienna metro system was based on the honor system. Pretty interesting and I bet almost all of the Austrians there do the right thing. Sadly, that would certainly not be the case for my American peeps.

-PS: motion-sensored escalators that stop when no one is around. America, get on this ASAP and stop wasting so much energy.

-The Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest may be the most beautiful building in the world.

-St. Stephen’s cathedrals, in both Budapest and Vienna, are the kinds of churches that cause your mouth to drop when you first enter. It is impossible not to be moved, to some degree, when you see the incredible beauty of these two buildings. Sadly, no pictures can ever do them justice.

-Overseas flights without personal entertainment systems are brutal, especially for those of us who can’t fall asleep on a plane. A nine-hour flight full of movies and television shows isn’t so bad. A nine-hour flight of uncomfortably sitting upright, no so much.

-Austria’s royal palace is absolutely spectacular. The interior of the palace was great, but the gardens, and their many unique additions (fake ruins, mazes, fountains, the world’s oldest zoo, etc.) were incredible.

-I think I’m the only guy I’ve ever seen wearing red pants in the U.S. We saw 50 in Austria and Hungary. Get ready, America, the red pants invasion is coming and I’m leading the charge.

-We spent our last night of the trip in a McDonald’s and the airport to save $70. Totally worth it.

As for the next adventure, there are obviously a dozen or so places I’m dying to visit, including India, Iceland, Ireland, Argentina, London, and Turkey. However, since I’ll be signing my life away in about three weeks (ie-house closing), we’ll stick around the U.S.A. this summer for an inexpensive and friend-filled mini-vacation. And then next April or June, we’ll have one last overseas hurrah before I formally throw in the towel in the baby-making discussion with Amanda.

Thanks, Vienna and Budapest, y’all rocked.

And now a "few" of my favorite pictures from the trip...

The Law Suit

2011-04-11T21:33:00.007-05:00

I've got a new favorite tradition. Once a week, despite rocking out in a business casual world, I don the suit.

The law suit.

To be honest, this tradition was largely inspired to help justify the purchase of more suits. However, it is also a whole lotta fun to get extra spiffy once a week, to put on the cufflinks, pocket square, and skinny tie...and then uncomfortably sit in my warmer-than-usual office for a solid ten hours.

That's my new favorite tradition?

No doubt.

However, this new tradition is also a bit strategic since my suit wearing days help build up my account of "over-dressing" points, which I will happily be cashing in once the spring/summer fully hits and the yellow/pink/green/red/seersucker pants start to make their numerous, and glorious, appearances.

Lastly, here are my new babies:

First Bonobos suit (thanks, Living Social!):

Still waiting for the mailman to drop off this goodness (the suit, of course):

My birthday (Express) suit, which set me back only two figures due to a beautiful combination of gift cards and coupons:

(of course, my pants are not this "baggy")

(ps-this dude needs to go down a jacket size.)

Defending My Man

2011-04-03T20:16:00.004-05:00

If I went to go see Nolan Ryan, no one would have any beef. If I hung with Sean Connery, there would be no quips or jokes made. Just jealously. If Arnold Palmer and I played some Wii Golf, again, the haters would have nothing to say.

But not with Elton John.

For some crazy reason, in the days before and after last Saturday's Elton John concert, I've gotten all sorts of flak, rolled eyes, dismissive sighs, and plenty of "you would"s in response to my excitement about rocking out with Elton. Well, people, although there are no hard feelings, I'm taking a stand to defend my man.

Along with Madonna, Aretha Franklin, and Paul McCartney, Elton John is one of the handful of music legends still walking this marvelous Earth. However, whether it is because of his incredible flamboyance or the Lion King soundtrack, Sir Elton just does not get the respect he unquestionably deserves from us 20 and 30-somethings. Well, "kids," let me educate you:

Who has had more Top 40 hits that anyone not named Elvis Presley? Elton John. 56 of them. That's more than Madonna, more than Stevie Wonder, more than the Stones, and even more than the Beatles. Having sold at least 250 million albums, there are only three, THREE, people who have sold more records than Sir Elton: Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Elvis.

So people, give the man some props. Sure, he doesn't quite fall into the "rockstar" category, but the man is the most successful pianist of all time and a true music legend. While his concert wasn't quite as fun as a Gaga or Britney show, the depth and richness of his music makes modern pop classics like "E-Mail My Heart" and "Dear Diary" look slightly foolish.

Case closed.

140 Seconds of Heaven

2011-03-27T19:46:00.005-05:00

I've been to a lot of church services in my life. Some amazing. Some inspiring. Some confusing. Some life-changing. Some boring.

But after hanging out in churches for the past twenty-eight years, I have never, absolutely never, seen anything like this:

Gold. Pure gold.

Without question, that is the most gloriously hilarious two minutes of preaching in human history. Following a crazy fun, but exhausting, weekend (catching up with my high school hero, after a decade apart, until 3:00am on "Friday"; an awesome breakfast with church friends early Saturday; and then a field trip to Baltimore for the National Aquarium and an Elton John concert), I got home around 1:30am on "Saturday." Resisting the urge to crash, I wasted a few minutes on Facebook and found the above link posted by one of my new dear friends.

Then I watched it five times.

In a row.

However, not only is that video 140 seconds of pure hilarity, but the dude is spot on. Whether you're down with J.C. or not, life is too short, too precious, and too wonderful, to hold a grudge. Although no "F.U."s were dropped, one of our pastors semi-recently gave an awesome sermon about how not forgiving those who have wronged us truly eats us alive. Rather than stewing and brewing about what so-and-so said or did, you just gotta let it go, show some love, and move on.

So after re-taking that message to heart, as well as the glorious video linked above, to all those who have been hating on me for going to an Elton John concert or have said some unfortunate things about Britney Spears' recent hit singles, F' all y'all!

Oh, and God bless.

Unexpected Obsession

2011-03-21T22:26:00.003-05:00

Time to add one more thing to the list of tasty foods you can eat and still lose weight:

Taco Bell.

Seriously.

I straight up loved Taco Bell when I was growing up. I'd order my 4+ ridiculous items (seven-layer burrito...mmhmmmmm....) and tear that stuff up. However, after one regret-inducing Run to the Border in early 2006, I decided to look up the calories for the items I ordered.

Bad idea. Realizing that no food outside of Fogo de Chao or a bucket of Sour Patch Kids and/or Oreos is worth 3,000 calories, my Taco Bell days were over. After a two-year hiatus, I decided to give TB one last shot in 2008. Not only did I again realize that those 3,000 calories were a huge mistake, but after I saw sour cream and guacamole being shot out of a ketchup-like squeeze bottle, I was done.

Despite those unfortunate incidents, and after only one Taco Bell visit in 5+ years, I've now hit up that hotness about ten times during the past two months. I skip all the "risky" items and stick to the Fresco Menu, where you'll find no cheese, guacamole, or sour cream, but plenty of flavor. Better yet, after only $3-4 and three items, you'll leave with less than 450 calories in your belly. In comparison, a sandwich from Potbelly's, one of the healthiest "fast" food options, will set you back 490 calories.

So yea, Yo Quiero Taco Bell. All. The. Time.

The Baby

2011-03-06T21:21:00.004-06:00

After putting off this monumental decision for 2-3 years, and after plenty of debate, it's time to finally announce that we have a baby on the way.

A beautiful, black baby.

While I've been thrilled with the pictures from my recent trips to Egypt, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, it's finally time to take the plunge. We've had four point-and-shoot cameras during the past four years (one unfortunate drop, one "donation" on the Metro, and one fell down a pit at Giza), and after a few Southeast Asian monsoons, the most recent edition is close to dying. Thus, it is high time to invest in something that will last longer than ten months. Furthermore, with a few epic trips lined up during the next six months (Budapest/Vienna in April and a divine mystery trip in August), it was time for a serious grown-up camera that will straight up dominate the historic sites and glorious landscapes that await. So yea, meet our new baby. Isn't she lovely?

The Kickoff!

2011-02-23T21:03:00.004-06:00

2007 was the year of movies.

2008 was the year of weight loss.

2009 was the year of personal (r)evolution.

2010 was the year of adventure, Asia, Chuck Taylors, and belts.

2011, my friends, is the year of the concert. Oh, and buying a house. But more importantly, concerts.

The new year officially kicks off tomorrow night, as my dear Lady Gaga rolls into the District. I'm beyond excited and have been eagerly waiting for the big night since I bought the tickets last July (as a really early birthday present to myself.) Heck, I've even been planning my outfit for the concert for the past two months. It will unquestionably be a fun, albeit ridiculous and scary, show. Can't wait (to go crazy)!

And then, we'll hardly miss a beat (pun), as we'll be rocking out to Bon Jovi on Sunday night. They put on a fantastic show and one of the coolest experiences of my life was seeing them play "Livin' on a Prayer" live here in D.C. back in early 2008. The entire Verizon Center was literally shaking. A little scary, but totally awesome. I'm also super excited to rock out with a bunch of friends from church during the show. Rock on, church folk, rock on.

My heart is warmed by the happy thought that just a mere two weeks later, my beloved Sir Elton John will be coming to "town" (Baltimore, but close enough.) We'll be making it a fun Baltimore/Maryland weekend with a few friends, so yea, that's going to be awesome.

And then only a few months later, the "legendary" Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block will be taking over D.C., together, for one very special night. Yep, absolutely stoked about that one too.

Thus, in a handful of months, we'll be rocking out at more concerts than we've been to in the past 4-5 years combined (Backstreet Boys in 2010; Britney in 2009; Bon Jovi in 2008; Keith Urban in 2007; Toby Keith in 2006). Sadly, since my beloved Katy Perry's "D.C." show is in Columbia, MD at 7:30pm on a Wednesday, just like the 2009 Fray show, I'll have to pass on that hotness. Maybe next time, love.

PS-can someone PLEASE convince Mick and Keith to do ONE last tour? Please.

Favorite Photos of 2010: Winners!

2011-02-01T21:39:00.006-06:00

...after much thought, pondering, and deliberation, here are our Ten Favorite Photos of 2010. To all those who offered us bribes, back-rubs, and the like, we appreciate the kind thoughts, but we tried to keep everything semi-honest. It was crazy hard to winnow down thousands of pictures to 20-30 favorites (The Nominees), but it was even more challenging to narrow those down to ten winners. Now, for the next twelve months, you'll see the below ten pictures hanging proudly on our fridge (first ever fridge photos at our new house!) and in 2012 they will eventually be retired to a very special photo album, where only the most elite of pictures are allowed to chill.

Like last year (2009 Nominees and Winners), I went all international with my five photo selections. Although I love life in the U.S., so many of my most cherished memories in life went down during wild and crazy adventures overseas, and 2010 was certainly no exception. Plus, since I spend a fair amount of money on international travel, reliving all these glorious memories washes away any financial second thoughts in about two seconds.

And, with that lame intro, I present our ten favorite photos of 2010! Congrats to all of you who made special cameos!

Andrew's Top 5:

Monkey Family at Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

I actually had about 4-5 different Southeast Asian monkey pictures vying for a spot in my Final Five. However, my short and pink Euro-esque bathing suit was badly angled in a few of them and they were a bit too PG-13. Furthermore, the confused/scared/bewildered look on this baby monkey's face is too adorable to pass up.

Dysentery and an Elephant

I'm in Thailand. In a dirty stank river. With an elephant. It's impossible for such a picture not to find its way into my Final Five. A mile upstream from this point, Howard and I saw some guys wading in this dirty river and we thought they were insane. An hour later, we were swimming around in this poopy water. With an elephant.

Directionless and Soupless

Krabi, Thailand is the home of some of the world's most beautiful beaches. It is also the home of a really gross and unsanitary "make your own soup" hotpot restaurant. Unfortunately, there were no directions (or meat that had been untouched by flies) and so our "soup" was a complete disaster. Howard and I laughed like crazy throughout the "cooking" process. We then spent the next hour struggling to eat the fiery, fatty, and disastrous creation we had concocted. We spent the next seven days trying to set the "couple's" record for most bouts of diarrhea in a single day. 20?

Breaking Boundaries.

During our bareback elephant ride through the "jungle" (ie-burned down farm), Howard and I got to know each other in new and romantic ways. It was the most painful hour of my life, as we sat directly on the elephant's spine. The elephant's prickly hair didn't help, nor did the snot it blew on us 15-20 times. Or the 100 degree heat. Or the close proximity. It was completely ridiculous, and bizarre, as every other person we saw in the "jungle" was riding solo. Not us.

Hot as Cambodia

We spent three really awesome days at Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. We were beast and didn't take tuk tuks or taxis, but rode some busted 1950s-esque bikes everywhere. We probably did about 20 miles a day. Oh, and it was about 193 degrees. The above picture was taken at 9:00am. Amanda had a breakdown a few hours later and demanded that we go home (this was day three of our trip and we had six more weeks in Cambodia. She persevered.)

Amanda's Top Five:

A little Eclipse love at Siam Paragon Mall in Bangkok, Thailand:

Amazingly patriotic matching at Capital City Church's KidFest:

Chicago Bean Jump. What a great bean.

Amazing Backstreet Boys concert with the Chens and my Britney Spears shirt:

The insanely amazing and dance-filled Saturday night at our five-year UVA reunion:

Still on the Wagon

2011-01-30T18:14:00.009-06:00

Tomorrow is a big day for me. Not only was January 31, 2008 the premiere of the fourth season of LOST (before the show went totally sci-fi insane), but it was also the first day I set foot in a gym in about 172 years. Unlike past failures, I was able to persevere through those first six habit-forming months. Three years later, I'm still rocking out (almost) every single night.

While Year One was a time of great success and celebration, Year Two was crazy frustrating. I dropped about eighty pounds in that first year, but after a barbecue and taco-filled trip to Texas in December 2008, I started to fall off the wagon. Repeatedly. I would gain fifteen pounds, lose ten pounds, gain fifteen pounds, lose twenty pounds, etc. Seeing weeks of hard work washed away by a few trips to some of our culinary favorites was absolutely maddening.

After all that drama, I desperately craved stability in Year Three. I got off to a great start and went crazy with the weights for a solid three months. Alas, my trip to Thailand totally messed me up and I never fully recovered. After eating $.50 ice cream, smoothies, pad thai, curry, pancakes, and bubble teas fourteen times a day for two weeks straight, it was hard to return to a "healthy" lifestyle. Thus, I packed on a few pounds last spring, but an unexpected benefit to our two months in Cambodia was that we both lost a crazy amount of weight this summer.

Since then, I've faced my biggest challenges: the seemingly endless food temptations at work and my busy schedule. Although I've continued to struggle with my eating (I ate eight pieces of pizza today), I've been able to keep up the late-night gym trips after my lengthy days at work. Although I probably put on about five pounds during the past five months, I've drastically cut back on the work snacks during recent weeks and the weight is starting to fall off again. Although 90-120 minute gym trips (and thus, Netflix) are a thing of the past, I just purchased the Insanity Workout (I'm scared) package to help me get off to a fast, and time efficient, start in Year Four. There are some semi-nude Turkish baths waiting for me in Budapest and I gotta get ready.

Thus, after a more-stable Year Three, I'm confident that this new lifestyle has been fully cemented as an integral part of the "new me." It hasn't been easy, but for anyone out there hoping to shed some weight, it hasn't been the impossible task that it seems like when you're looking at an overwhelming number on the scale. I have yet to diet for a single day and I probably eat worse than 99% of adults, but just consistently going to the gym an hour a day is enough to create drastic change. Even better, armed with a Playstation Portable, a travel book, or the paper, my hours on the elliptical machine are far from burdensome. Thus, you can do it. You just need a little motivation, a little determination, a little encouragement, and something to keep the new lifestyle fresh and fun. Good luck!

As always, here are some before and after pictures from the pre-2008 days, as well as 2010:

Old:

Probably my last picture from those days. I even added about 10 pounds to this throughout 2007. Sigh.

New:

Bodo's in Bangkok!

Patriotic.

Mr. and Mrs. Christmas

Deep in the heart of Texas...

And finally, Amanda's least favorite picture of all time...

(and those pants are the real reason the Pats lost to the Jets two weeks ago. I distracted poor Tom.)

Oh, and if this Insanity workout kills me during the next two months, will someone please make sure Amanda doesn't get rid of Napoleon.

Nine Months

2011-01-22T12:34:00.005-06:00

I'm not sure if I've ever had a more bittersweet experience than last weekend. Amanda and I went up to Boston for a few days and had an absolutely wonderful time. We toured this historic city a bit (but not too much, due to the freezing cold), ate some great food, partied, danced, and even went to go see the once-infallible Patriots take on the hated Jets in the second-round of the NFL playoffs. Heck, I was even FEET away from my #1 hero/idol/crush: Tom Brady. It was an absolutely amazing few days, except for one thing...

The Patriots lost.

Look, I'm used to UVA breaking my heart on an annual basis. But Tom Brady and the Patriots? Not so much. In fact, it's only happened 1.5 times. Of course, 18-1 was the ultimate heartbreak. Expectations were limitless, as it seemed that it was a foregone conclusion that the Patriots would go 19-0 and cement themselves as the best football team ever. Alas, after a furious pass-rush, a few missed opportunities, and a late miraculous play that will forever haunt me, the Pats walked off the field as losers.

Not as extreme since expectations were pretty low in 2006 (our best receiver was Reche Caldwell?), but blowing a 21-0 half-time lead to the Colts in the AFC Championship game breaks one's heart a little bit.

And then this past weekend? Sigh. Similar to 2006, expectations were low going into this season. We got demolished in the playoffs last year, had a brand new defense, and the Jets seemed to be the new frontrunners in the AFC East. Alas, after a dismal loss to the Browns, the Pats caught fire and beat everybody in their way, including all four teams in this weekend's conference championship games (probably by a combined score of 150-50.) Sadness. Thus, expectations were again out of control and it was a foregone conclusion that we'd be winning the Super Bowl. And with the Jets coming to town, after beating them by seven touchdowns a month before, we were gold.

And then Tom Brady threw his first interception in 8 years and we never recovered. It was a close game and a handful of plays (a dropped bomb to Tate, a dropped fake punt that would have gotten us six points, etc.) could have swung it the other way. Although I'm not moping around sad, I've purposefully avoided ESPN and the sports page of the Post to avoid any extra reminders of my disappointment. And although that disappointment will slowly fade, it will undoubtedly linger until we get the chance to erase it in another nine months. Hopefully the 2011 season will finally be the year 2007's epic failure, and now 2010's, will finally be put to rest. With one of the youngest teams in the NFL, the future looks bright, but I'll keep expectations low.

For now.

Train to Foxborough.

3-D Imax Ballin'.

New England Aquarium.

Sam Adams burger at the oldest tavern in the United States.

Giddy.

Hungary for Adventure

2011-01-11T21:00:00.006-06:00

Over the course of a little more than a year, I spent about four months overseas as I trekked around Egypt, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. Alas, I figured those days of adventure were over when I started working this past September. Although I love my job, I had resigned myself to the reality that my "vacations" would now be a few three-day weekends a year.

Nope.

Although I never lived out UVA's "work hard, play hard" mantra while I was an undergrad student, it's been my motto for the past four months. I work a lot of hours and so when the work week is "over," I'm doing all I can to maximize the weekend, "play hard," and live a passionate life. Thus, the three-day weekend trips will have to wait, because I'm Hungary for adventure!

Yes, we're headed to Hungary and yes, I'm going to straight up say that pun a million times during our upcoming trip. I've wanted to go to Hungary for a long time (the eventual trip to Egypt was originally a trip to Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, etc.) and so I'm VERY excited to finally have a chance to throw-down with the Hungarians. I've been plotting a 10ish day trip in April for a while, but while other potential destinations, such as Colombia (too big), Panama (not random enough), Nicaragua (too close to the U.S.), and the Czech Republic (looooong layovers) fell away, Budapest remained. When I found some super cheap flights and saw a number of articles say Budapest should be a top destination in 2011, I pulled the trigger in a Hungarian heartbeat. And after all sorts of Asian love during the past year, it feels really good to get a change of scenery and head back to Europe...especially since Hungary is a whole lot cheaper than the rest of the continent.

Although there are tons of fun details that await planning, we'll probably be chilling in the Hungarian capital for three or so days and then cruising around the rest of the country for another six or seven. Even better, we'll be in Budapest for Amanda's birthday and so I can only imagine that we'll be having some sort of wild and crazy time. Even better, two of our BFFs are already going on the trip (yay!) and any and all others are most welcome.

As always, here are some pictures of the new destination. Bring on the oversized backpacks, $5 hostels, cheap t-shirts, and grungy Euros, because it's almost (not really, still three months away) time to make some priceless memories once again...

Ten Favorite Photos of 2010: Nominees

2011-01-09T18:27:00.020-06:00

It is again time for one of my favorite little family traditions! Each year, Amanda and I each pick out our five favorite pictures from the past year. Those ten pictures then go on the fridge for the next twelve months, where they not only add some funny and interesting decor, but they also serve as good conversation pieces for dinners and parties. After the year, the ten pictures are put in an album with previous winners. Thus, when we're like 90, we'll be able to flip through nearly seventy years of priceless memories in just a few minutes. Heck, I also love writing these posts, as it gives me a chance to take a look back at the past year and relive some hilarious and priceless memories.

Here's a look back at 2009's nominees and winners. As you can see, we had a blast in Egypt. And, without further ado, here's 2010's nominees:

Chiang Mai, Thailand. Loved the uniqueness of the white Buddha.

Sums up Thailand so well: colorful.

$.10 watermelon at Angkor Wat.

Got to celebrate the Thai New Year (Songkran) in Bangkok. So amazing.

The insanely steep stairs at Wat Arun in Bangkok.

Randomly fell into a photo shoot with these three Thai movie stars. Got a picture with one, but due to my nasty sunburn, jet-lagged face, and sweaty appearance, it is not one of my favorite photos of 2010. For those same reasons, I didn't bust a move on these ladies. Oh, and because of that whole marriage thing too.

Howard and I found our way to this random park during our epic/dangerous/stupid motorbike ride from Chiang Mai to Pai. Alas...

Excursions during that ride, such as the above, meant we just about ran out of gas in the middle of the Thai jungle mountains. This was the gas "station" we finally found.

My BFF during our summer in Phnom Penh.

Nature is pretty awesome.

Wat Po in Bangkok.

Partying/Dancing on the Lawn at UVA's Reunions Weekend in May. Five years. Despite all my travels this year, this was probably the best night of the year, albeit a little crazy/insane/inappropriate. Can't wait for 2015's edition.

My old lawn room....and of course....

Five years before...

Not only a great picture, but a great story too. In short, don't wear tight (light blue) pants and try to bring your knees to your chest during a jump...

Probably my best photobomb of the year...

Songkran in Bangkok.

Our first bike ride in Phbom Penh. Last time I wore a helmet.

You always see a lot of interesting things on the backs of motorbikes in SE Asia...

Me and the BFF.

Carpooling.

Proudest moment of the year...

Sawatdee!

Sweet mountain/jungle beach in Krabi, Thailand.

Awesome matching at CCC's Kidsfest.

"Khmer, baby..."

Most random place I've ever been. Some crazy little village in southern Cambodia.

Being led to our deaths by this potential murderer...

Epic shot. If this monkey was looking at Howard, it might have been the best picture ever.

We stopped at a sketchy "make your own soup" restaurant in Krabi, Thailand. Too bad they didn't give us any instructions.

I put waaaaaaaaay too much spice/hot sauce in that mess and nearly killed us both. Tasted good. Looked like vomit.

Dramatic reenactment of one of Amanda's dad's hospital administration meetings.

Golden Mount in Bangkok. Howard is laying on the ground to get this shot.

Gino's East in Chicago.

Me and Giada de Laurentiis. Love this picture, but it kills me that it's blurry as it could have been my favorite picture of all time. But why is Giada holding a picture of me?

There are fish "spas" all over SE Asia. Usually there are like fifteen tiny fish in them. Not this one.

Fatty.

The Levi's fashion show Howard and I fell into in Bangkok. Me and my little point-and-shoot were hanging with the pros.

...and I got pretty close too!

Heart.

Howard and I have known each other for 17+ years. On this day, we got to know each other in new and sweaty ways. (Oh, and we're on an elephant.)

Levi's fashion show.

Biking to church in Phnom Penh. We stood out.

Best. Matching. Ever. (but maybe too much?)

Eating some amazing Thai food at a little shack on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok.

Chicago.

My two best candid shots of the year. Chiang Mai Water Festival.

When I went to Thailand in April, Bangkok was teetering on the edge of Civil War. All the travel and government websites said to stay away from the parts of town where all the fighting was going down. Nope.

Bayon Temple in Cambodia. So amazing. Also memorable since this photo was taken seconds before Amanda had a complete meltdown due to the extreme heat, biking 20 miles a day, etc.

Be the Love's Release Party. Fun Night. Fun Outfit.

Bean Jump in Chicago.

Ayutthaya, Thailand.

9:00am in Cambodia.

Angkor Wat. Incredible.

Most ridiculous picture of the year. While in Finland, I was a little (too) excited about being soooooo close to ABBA's homeland.

Holding Up

2011-01-04T20:12:00.014-06:00

Not-so-slowly, but surely, I'm bringing the funk to my "grownup" wardrobe. If I'm going to spend 55+ hours in my work clothes each week, I might as well have a little fun, right? Plus, kind of like that dude Amanda has a crush on in "Bones," this is my little rebellion and streak of individuality in the serious adult world.

Pants? Been there. Socks. All over that flamboyance. Shoes? Props to DSW and Nordstrom Rack for your awesomeness. Ties? Both Justin Timberlake and Don Draper would be jealous of my skinny tie collection. (seriously, this is the second-best (See Bonobos for #1) clothing website EVER.) Pocket squares? I actually like to keep things plain, simple, and white. Shirts? Vietnam helped a lot, but I've still got some work to do.

But in 2010, the new mini-obsession was belts. Lots and lots of belts.

It started with an $8 black belt bought in Cambodia, complete with a semi-working ridiculously awesome silver buckle. From there, a sweet red and blue $10 belt from Aeropostale (I'm probably the only person over the age of 18 that owns something from there.) And then things just got out of hand, especially after some out-of-control Bonobos savings courtesy of Living Social. So will you ever see me in a blue dress shirt, khakis, and a plain brown belt? Nope. In the middle of all that "typical" fashion fare, you'll find these...

Best. Belt. Ever.

(...and hand-painted in DC too! Props to Amanda for this awesome Christmas gift!)

Seven Again

2011-01-03T20:37:00.002-06:00

Happy 2011 to you all! After a whirlwind of a Christmas, I'm thankful to be entering into a period of a little bit of normalcy and consistency. Hopefully. Having gone out of town for something like 8 out of the past 9 weekends, I'm thrilled to say that we'll be hanging in DC for every single weekend, except for one (Wicked in NYC!) between now and our next international adventure (not quite finalized yet) in mid-April.

Alas, getting back into the swing of things has been a bit of a challenge. Not only because it is 40 degrees colder in DC than in Texas, but after hanging with a bunch of kiddos for five days, it's a bit surreal to return to adulthood. We went down to Texas for my cousin's wedding, so I expected to eat lots of awesome food (Mexican, beef barbeque, etc.) and have some good times chatting and hanging with family. Alas, I totally didn't expect to spend dozens of hours playing with a bunch of little kids. However, each of my days down in Texas was spent playing basketball, football, cops and robbers, and charades with my little cousins and siblings. It was a total blast as I relived some of my childhood days playing at the same house where I spent so many summers as a kid. Thankfully, all that running around meant I didn't gain 10-pounds in less than a week, unlike our 2008 trip down to the Lone Star State. However, after being in kiddy-mode for five full days, it's pretty hard to return to the serious world of law. Alas, after hanging with seven crazy little kids, a hard week of work seems like a piece of cake.

Farewell, My Friend

2010-12-22T20:48:00.004-06:00

Nothing too exciting here, but I did find the below e-mail slightly entertaining. I figured the DC Metro office doesn't get too many happy/positive letters, so I thought I might as well try to have a little fun with my request for a replacement SmarTrip card...

To the SmarTrip Master:

After more than four years of beautiful, reliable, and convenient use, I’m sad to say that my SmarTrip card has finally run out of magic. During that same span, D.C. has gone through two Presidents, eight different 'Skins coaches, three electoral cycles full of unfulfilled promises, and the Nationals have lost 818 games. Heck, Katy Perry went from being a gospel singer to married to Russel Brand and singing with Snoop Dogg during that same time. Despite all these radical changes in our world, I've only had one SmarTrip card. Only one.

This SmarTrip took me to my first day of law school, to Obama's Inauguration and a Britney Spears concert, and even that semi-shady bus stop near Chinatown. A lot. It took me to a bunch of internships and amazing nights out on the town with friends. I wish I could say it took me to my wedding, but I got married way too early for that to be true. However, it did take me to BWI Airport on one horribly miserable trip. With this SmarTrip card, the entire world could be mine. There were no limits. Only freedom. And an unreal $4.25 one-way fare from Dunn Loring to Metro Center.

Alas, for the past month or two, despite my most earnest and noble of efforts, my beloved SmarTrip card has only worked about fifty percent of the time. Although I very much enjoy talking with the Station Managers in the mornings and evenings, as I plead for their assistance, I do believe that my fellow Metro riders are tired of my SmartTrip stalls at the exit gates. Once, after 3-4 unsuccessful tries, I quickly bust a move through the gate, only to have those bulky orange/brown "things" come sweeping down on my legs. Thankfully, I'm no longer fat and so I was able to narrowly escape, skinny jeans unscathed.

Alas, I must now ask for a new SmarTrip to replace the enclosed card, which has served me so well over the years. From my first days of looking for housing in Fairfax, through three years of law school, and now my life as a lawyer in DC, just like my wife, Chipotle, and Anderson Cooper, this SmarTrip card has always been there for me. Despite the previously discussed failures, I kept trying to pull this card out every few days in the hopes that it would magically return to its once-great state. Alas, this card was no 2009 Brett Favre. Thus, it is now time for us to move on. I only request that he be treated kindly and respectfully, as that is exactly what he’d do for me. I'll remember the glory years, and sort of like Emmit Smith's days as an Arizona Cardinal, we'll just pretend like the past few months of frustration didn't happen. A new SmarTrip card, which will always be Number Two in my heart, can be sent to:

[Name]
[Address]
Arlington, VA 22202

Thanks for your help,
[Name]

Christmas in the Capital - Vol. 3

2010-12-19T19:38:00.004-06:00

Hello, holidays. You've been a ton of fun this year, but you've also been kinda crazy. There have been a ton of parties, a lot of preparations for our own shindig, lots of travel plans, and plenty of festive attire.

Things got started off really early this year, with a fun and festive holiday party for the associates in my firm's DC office on December 2nd. I had the "honor" of giving an irreverent and humorous presentation that ended with a video of myself, and two other new associates, doing a spirited dance to Gaga's "Telephone." Since then, the DVD has rapidly been making its way around the office. Thankfully, the video hasn't made it to Above the Law, Facebook, or WikiLeaks. Yet.

Since then, we've had a fun church Christmas party, where the above pants made their well-received debut. I only took that bold step due to one of my BFFs talking some holiday party attire trash in the weeks before the big party. I showed up in that outfit and he showed up in jeans and a sweatshirt. I'm still not quite sure who "won."

Since then, I had the real work holiday party, which was a wonderful time of catching up with friends beyond the securities litigation floor. After quite a bit of debate, I decided to sport the pants, which ended up being a total blast and was a fun and fitting "introduction" for me to the rest of the firm. I was worried about some partners thinking I was crazy/weird/tacky, but I got a lot of fun and positive comments all night and even a few random photo requests. Later that evening, Amanda and I hit up Charlie Palmer's Steaks for our five-year anniversary (wow) and even some fellow patrons in there had a few remarks. However, I'm not sure if all the dark-suited lobbyists in there have recovered from all that festive flair.

And then this weekend, whew! We had a blast hosting our own holiday party last night, but it was beyond exhausting. Lots of shopping, lots of clealing, lots of cooking. Despite our 737 square foot apartment, we managed to squeeze about 40 people in our little place. In honor of our five-year anniversary, and bringing back memories of me singing to Amanda at our wedding reception, I again serenaded my wife. Alas, this time, my aforementioned holiday wear nemesis and I joined together and sang Kanye's Gold Digger. We all then rocked out to a crazy "Dirty Santa" gift exchange that was beyond hilarious.

This morning, we had the great honor of volunteering in our church's Christmas special, which was a total blast and downright amazing. Beautiful, powerful, moving, rocking.

In the middle of all that was our annual Christmas in the Capital night out in D.C. (Vol. 1; Vol. 2). My mom joined us for the fun and we spent the afternoon at the Newseum (AMAZING) and then went to a new restaurnat downtown, Cedar. We walked in, sat at a table, and then realized they had the worst menu in the world. There were only five entrees and not a single chicken dish. It may actually be the only (non-vegetarian) restaurant in the U.S. that doesn't serve chicken. Due to Amanda's lack of red meat and fish desire, we awkwardly rolled out of there and eventually ended up at Ceiba, which was amazing. After a filling dinner, we checked out the always gorgeous National Christmas Tree.

Amazingly, the craziness is far from over as I'm off to Indiana for a whopping three days, back to work for three days, and then heading down to Texas for my cousin's wedding. We're really looking forward to hanging out with family, but I'm also really excited about a bit of downtime in early 2011!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Back of the Line

2010-12-14T21:05:00.003-06:00

It's kind of a bummer when you're trying to take a short little lunch break and you roll up to the nearest food truck, sandwich shop, or burrito heaven, and a dozen plus peeps are rocking' out in front of you. The clock is ticking and you start debating whether you should wait it out or roll elsewhere. Well, if missing out on some Chipotle due to a long line is a bummer, then how about being on a 100-year waiting list?

That where I'm at right now. Future great grandkids, you're welcome.

After another exciting New England Patriots season, which included a fun trip to Boston and a potential playoff adventure for me and the family in January, I finally decided to pull the trigger and get on the season ticket waiting list. I'd love to go to 2-4 games a year, season tickets would give me access to playoff tickets, and selling any tickets we couldn't use (for a crazy profit) would be a piece of cake.

So we paid our deposit (you're welcome, Kraft family) for four tickets and joined the list...with 60,000 other people. Sadness. Oh, and the rest of the math equation is way worse.

Gillette Stadium capacity: 68,000 people
Waiting Ticket list: 60,000+ people
Season ticket renewal rate: 99%

Due to the high renewal rate, a whopping 680 tickets become available each year. Worse, obviously, each person on the waiting list is getting more than one ticket. Accordingly, at a minimum, I should be getting my season tickets in 88 years and assuming a 3% return on investment, my deposit would be worth about eight grand by then. Sweeeeet.

The Coup

2010-12-12T19:50:00.004-06:00

It has been a busy few weeks up here in the 703/202. Lots of work. Lots of trips. Lots of parties. Lots of non-work meetings/events. Lots of football. Lots of Gaga. Thus, don't assume that the lack of blogging means there has been a lack of life and passion, as I'm still rocking out up here, but I just don't have quite as much time to write about it.

However, I just couldn't let some exciting news from this past week go unreported. Yes, the Patriots did beat two other top NFL teams by a combined score of 81-10 this week, but this just might be a little bit more exciting.

With a huge assist from Jessica H., I got wind of a Bonobos Groupon going down in San Francisco. $115 worth of dandy-filled office/party gear for only $50. Even better, it was "VISA day" and so every purchase resulted in a free Bonobos Groupon for a "friend." After Amanda and I each purchased one of these Groupons, the VISA gifts, and some referral bonuses, I made out really well. In short, $460 for an insanely low $50. Seriously.

Thus, expect plenty of new bold and bright attire in 2011. And for those of you who just joined the Bonobos family this week through this Groupon, happy shopping and enjoy that $230!

Oh, and here is the latest Bonobos purchase. Quite festive! Should be interesting when these make an appearance at the work office party this week...

Finally Home

2010-12-01T22:38:00.002-06:00

After heading out of town for four weeks in a row, I'm infinitely excited to say that I will not be leaving the 202/703 this weekend. It's been a super fun stretch, with two interesting and hilarious trips to Atlanta, a great, albeit cold, jaunt through Boston, and a nice trip to Lynchburg for Thanksgiving. Alas, the to-do list has gotten a bit out of control during these weeks of irregularity and I'm seriously craving a normal weekend full of football, sleeping in, friends, regular schedules, gym trips, dinners out on the town, church, and a little bit of work. And after nearly five weeks, that is exactly what I'm going to get this weekend. November, you were awesome, but you straight up wore me out. Oh, and you made me gain five pounds.

An American Classic

2010-11-28T18:41:00.005-06:00

There are few things in our world that are more distinctly American than Thanksgiving. While other countries have their own Independence/Memorial/Veterans Days, we're the only ones who honor a handful of brave souls that escaped religious persecution, crazily sailed 3,000 miles across the sea, and then nearly got themselves killed by Old Man Winter (props, Squanto.) And what better way to celebrate that rich history than with sweet potatoes, turkey, and football?

Alas, there is one thing more American than Thanksgiving. Even though some Euro poppers tried to steal them from us, this hotness is all ours:

Chuck Taylors.

Without question, the best shoes ever made.

It wasn't until a year ago that I truly embraced the wonder of these all-American shoes, but since Santa first hooked me up last Christmas, I've been amassing a semi-impressive array of these footwear goodies. In addition to the traditional black Chucks above, I'm a proud owner of the following beauties:

...and the newest member of the family...

(very excited to rock these, with a suit, at some holiday parties)

And why do I love these shoes so much? First, like so many other things, the history. Second, the simplicity. Although I have an undying love for bright and bold colors, I like to keep designs and styles pretty simple. Third, the versatility. Wear them with shorts and a t-shirt? Yes. Jeans and a sweater? Indeed? Rock with them with a suit? Heck yes.

Even better, with prices for these kicks floating between $30 and $40, they're pretty inexpensive, especially when considering that you can wear them anywhere at anytime. More personally, I've gotten my five pairs for a combined $65. Holla.

So, Mr. Converse and Mr. Taylor, thank you.

Speechless

2010-11-10T19:42:00.006-06:00

I'm a guy that loves words. Heck, it is the use of words that helps keep me employed. However, when in the presence of something so glorious, so wonderful, so amazing, and so majestic, sometimes even the most perfect of words fall well short. Thus, it is with infinite and passionate excitement that I present to you all the newest member of my family...in pictures...

...

Yep, I got that glorious belt too. Thank you, Bonobos, thank you.

Even though the new additions below aren't quite as life changing, I'm pretty stoked about these dudes too...especially since I got them for about 70% off...

Splitting Up

2010-10-28T20:58:00.003-05:00

Well, I definitely never expected to this to happen, but after nearly five years of marriage, Amanda and I are splitting up...

...our burrito.

Like any good split, some cheating is involved. Alas, rather than it being with some hot young thing, it's with the under-the-radar "girl" next door.

Hello, Baja Fresh, how you doin'?

Sorry, Chipotle.

Although I still have mad love for Chipotle, it's hard to beat a Baja Fresh across the street. More importantly, due to the abundance of free chips and salsa at Baja Fresh, we've been able to split a single burrito for dinner. Thus, not only are we saving $7ish each trip, but a whole heck of a lot of calories. Thus, the same two people that used to rock out their own burritos at Chipotle and then tear up some Coldstone, are now splitting a single burrito and some chips. And saving an extra $7/week-ish always helps justify other fun purchases...

Best. Marital. Split. Ever.

(Except for K-Fed and Britney)

Partying for Freedom

2010-10-24T19:38:00.006-05:00

Although it might not be the proper American or Christian thing to say, I have to admit that Halloween rivals Christmas, Thanksgiving, and July 4th as my favorite "holiday." First, there is an abundance of amazing sweet treats, but it's not the ridiculous gorgefest that leaves me filled with regret the first time I step on the scale after Christmas, Thanksgiving, and July 4th (hamburgers + hot dogs = trouble.) Second, unsurprisingly, I absolutely adore dressing up, whether that means donning something fancy or rocking a cheesy homemade contraption. Third, I LOVE seeing all the creative costumes wandering the streets during the always-entertaining Halloween weekend.

Thus, I can hardly begin to describe my excitement about this upcoming weekend, when I get to indulge in all that goodness, while also helping out some precious young ladies that desperately need some love. Even better, this time, I don't have to fly all the way to Cambodia.

This Saturday night, DC's own Be the Love Campaign is sponsoring the first ever Release Party, which is raising money for the A21 Campaign, an organization that rescues young ladies from the horrors of sex slavery in Eastern Europe. Even better, just like the She Home in Cambodia, the A21 Campaign then gives these girls the medical help, counseling, educational resources, and vocational training they desperately need to have a successful second chance at life.

And here, thousands of miles away, the Be the Love Campaign, which is led by a group of women who simply believe that "empathy is not enough," is joining in this infinitely important fight. And out of that burning desire, the Release Party was born. Thus, not only do I get to sport some spiffy attire, bust a few moves on the dance floor, enjoy the best views in DC, eat my little heart out, and gawk at some sweet outfits and costumes, BUT it will all be for such an amazing cause. Even better, there is a silent auction going down and so I'll be able to get my shop on in a guiltless way since all the proceeds will be used to help release some ladies from the unacceptable 21st Century slave trade.

So Amanda and I will be partying for freedom this Saturday night. We'd LOVE it for many of you to join us at this infinitely important and amazingly fun event. You can find all the necessary links above. If you'd like to join in the fight to help rescue some desperately needy ladies, but can't rock out with us on Saturday, you can donate to this amazing cause here. Or if you'd want to donate any sweet gift certificates or items to the silent auction, just let me know.

So yea, I'm pretty sure Halloween will be my favorite "holiday" of 2010 because of the rockin' Release Party. Thankfully, I don't think Sweet Baby Jesus will mind.

My Endless Love for the Tea Party

2010-10-18T20:16:00.004-05:00

In 2009, small seeds of change began to blossom in the United States. This past winter, while health care drama filled our nation's capital city, the movement began to grow. With the midterm elections just around the corner, this growing passion has become the defining issue in my daily life.

The tea party.

No, not that one.

A much more exciting, refined, healthy, and flavorful tea party.

By some minor miracle, a cup of coffee has never passed through these sweet Scotch-Irish-German lips. A little over a year ago, I could almost say the same thing about hot tea, but I'm now up to a semi-insane six cups a day.

The seeds were first planted during our amazing jaunt through the Sahara in Siwa, Egypt, where the tea is crazy strong, numbingly sweet, and never-ending. During my trek through Vietnam, I bought a jaw-droppingly gorgeous tea set in Hanoi for only $20 AND then remembered I'd have to schlepp it around for three more weeks, two train rides, one Halong Bay cruise, two bus rides, three flights, and 5,000 miles. Amazingly, it made it home safely and we've rocked that thing like any good semi-bougie couple would.

This past winter, as I tried to shed some weight before my trip to Thailand, I started to pound tea at work as a way to stave off the snacking desire. I thought I was going really crazy with a whoppin' three cups a day. But now that I've started the real job, and the snacking opportunities are crazy endless, I've stepped up my tea game considerably. It also doesn't hurt when you've got a sweet Flavia machine with five kinds of teas (but 20+ kinds of coffee. boo.) and all sorts of fun accessories. Thanks to a wonderful suggestions from Bryan M., I've been making myself some wicked chai tea lattes that have 200 less calories than the Starbucks variety and are absolutely free.

So when the Congressional elections are over, and the Tea Party protests in DC began to wane, just know that only blocks from the White House, a totally rad tea party will still be going down all day (and sometimes night) long.

Lasting Impression

2010-10-16T15:27:00.003-05:00

I imagine that when you peace out from this world after a long and healthy life, you spend a considerable amount of time thinking about all the priceless memories you made with beloved friends and family. And although I'll definitely be thinking about those fun companion-filled adventures, I'm sure that one of the foremost thoughts on my mind will be the time I spent three weeks chilling all by myself.

One year ago, this "I hate doing anything alone" dude set off for the faraway nation of Vietnam all by my lonesome.

And it was straight up amazing.

I was stretched. I was pushed. I was changed. I was overwhelmed.

I was free.

For the past decade or so, I've been too busy with activities and to-do lists and it was absolutely incredible to take a break from all that and to do whatever the heck I wanted to do for nearly three whole weeks. But to get to do all that in a breathtakingly beautiful country with a rich, unique, and charming culture, well, that was absolutely priceless.

The food was indescribably good and laughably cheap. The friendships I made were short, but rich. The historical and political steps I got to retrace were both sobering and enlightening. The natural beauty I got to see was downright amazing.

Best of all, it was crazy random. From wandering through the sketchy back streets of Hanoi, to going on a ridiculously long unplanned hike along the Chinese border, the adventures never ended. There were tons of incredible meals, plenty of new Euro friends, and an abundance of motorbikes. I also got to spend two whole nights hanging with pimps and prostitutes, which was nothing short of a unique mix of bizare/heartbreaking/confusing/amazing. And just like life, things weren't always rosy, as I found myself with absolutely no money for two crazy stressful days, I was propositioned for drugs/men/women/girls/boys 300+ times, and I got to see the horrors of sex trafficking up close and personal. However, whether it was good or bad, the whole adventure was absolutely priceless and undoubtedly one of the best experiences of my life.

Which is why, despite the abundance of work and never-ending to-do lists, I'm already plotting the next adventure. I thought I'd be satisfied with the occasional 3-4 day weekend trip, but there are way too many shady streets that need to be explored and deliciously cheap meals that absolutely must be eaten.

(If I happen to peace out from this world early, as of 10/16/10, I want my ashes spread here: Sapa, Vietnam)

Fully Embracing My Whiteness

2010-10-10T16:03:00.003-05:00

Maybe it's because I went to an all-black preschool? Or maybe because I was the token white guy on a high school student council and tennis team that was dominated by Filipinos? Either way, I don't think I've ever fully embraced my Caucasian roots.

Until now.

I've finally found my way into the big white arms of Dave Matthews.

I was too busy listening to a weird combination of *NSYNC and DMX in high school to notice much of the Dave Matthews Band. Although I eventually grew to love some DMB-esque bands, such as Hootie (love), Third Eye Blind, and Counting Crows, I somehow never fully embraced Dave. This is especially strange since I spent five years living in DMB's hometown of Charlottesville.

Yet, despite a decade of resistance, all it took was a single play of "Gravedigger" on my Lady Gaga Pandora (?!?!) station for me to finally succumb. Since then, I've been straight blowing up iTunes.

Sadly, I had hoped to fully embrace my new-found whiteness and hang with Dave and his (surprisingly mostly) non-white band mates during their upcoming tour. Alas, his NYC and Charlottesville stops just happen to be during the weekends when I'll be in Boston and Atlanta.

Oh well, at least I've still got Banana Republic.

The Funky Bunch

2010-10-03T19:51:00.003-05:00

Life is so infinitely precious and all too short. Thus, I'm a huge believer in the idea that we better make the most of each and every day. Whether that means working a job you love, fellowship-ing with the people you adore, serving others, or eating the foods you lust for, we only have one chance at this thing and so we might as well live with an undying passion.

For me, that means I wear some crazy fun socks.

Except for those rare sockless loafer (love. this. look.) summer days, socks are undoubtedly a part of every working man's day. Thus, rather than starting those tired weekday mornings off with another pair of plain black/brown/navy socks, I choose to start my days with these rockstars:

It might be something crazy small, but at 7:35 in the morning, a tiny splash of color goes a long way. Plus, nearly every week, during a climb up a (broken) Metro escalator, I get at least one "sweet socks, dude" shout-out. And if anyone wants to join me in this tiny little colorful rebellion against the corporate world, you can find a lot of these fun dudes at Target for only $2.50. Or you could go to Egypt and get a pair for $.10.

Bromance 2010

2010-09-27T20:42:00.008-05:00

Overall, marriage is a pretty good thing. However, regardless of the amount of wedded bliss in your life, guy time is always a really good thing. Alas, with busy work schedules and scattered living arrangements, planning various masculine chill time can be tough. However, a handful of us up here in DC have had some good times during the past few weeks as we've celebrated our "manliness" during the busy work week. I thought a celebratory trip to Fogo de Chao last Thursday was the pinnacle of awesomeness, but I was wrong.

Way wrong.

What can be better than two-hours of eating perfectly grilled cows and chickens?

A jet-setting "road" trip with two of my besties.

And Tom Brady.

More specifically, Tom Brady whoppin' up on Peyton Manning.

Despite our incredible experience in Cambodia, I was bummed to miss out on our annual dudes MLB trip this summer. Combining that emotional hole with my passion for all things Tom Brady, my constant travel bug, and my desire to see an always-epic game between the Patriots and Colts, this most righteous trip idea was born this past Saturday afternoon. On Sunday night, the cheap plane tickets and way-too-expensive game tickets were purchased.

Although the trip is still seven weeks away, my excitement levels are already sky high. Now, if only my man would just go back to his metrosexual roots and trim those Bieber-esque locks, then things would truly be perfect.

Countdown.

2010-09-21T21:41:00.002-05:00

Six more days.

Six more days until I can finally watch an episode of Glee live.

After a pop music-filled three weeks, we're just about caught up with Glee. Thus, we'll be tuning in next Tuesday for realsies. Which is absolutely perfect because...

(drum roll)

My girl Britney will be hanging out with all my new Glee friends (Press Release here.) Multiple Britney songs will be rocked out to and America's Favorite Pop Star Mama will be making a cameo. Oh, and this guy will also be doing his thing.

So yea, Will Schuester, Uncle Jesse, Puck, the cute redheaded lady, and Britney Spears...

Best. Tuesday. Ever.

From Deep Inside the (Obese) Lockbox

2010-09-20T21:15:00.004-05:00

These pages have been filled with endless stories that have detailed the struggles and successes of my 30-month War on Weight. I probably worry about this sort of stuff a bit too much, but I hate to see lots of hard work and sacrifice undone with one really fun weekend.

However, last night, as I was perusing Facebook, a few old photos that Amanda uploaded 3+ years ago, popped up as a "suggestion." And, um, wow. My jaw straight up hit the floor.

The below pictures were taken in August 2007, when I was at the peak of my weight. I hadn't seen these photos in years and I'm still in shock. So seriously, I'm going to forget stressing about a few extra packets of peanut butter a week and throw a War on Weight victory party in with this Thursday's Men 'n Meat employment celebration.

Three years and one cheesy smile later...

On Second Thought...

2010-09-19T20:18:00.006-05:00

There are a ton of things I've loved about my first few weeks of work. One of those things, unsurprisingly, involved food.

In short, I've discovered a new weakness. These gorgeously good little dudes:

In addition to some other free goodies at the office, I've been (constantly) indulging in these little tasty treats the past few weeks. Whether it was with crackers or cookies, or even just a spoon, these tiny little packets of peanut butter have been a part of my new daily routine.

Four times a day.

I absolutely love peanut butter, but it is one of the prohibited items in the McCormick household since a jar would only last 1-2 days around here. Thus, I've gone a bit crazy at work during the past two weeks. But these things are soooo small, right? How bad could they actually be?

And then I learned that ignorance is truly bliss.

With no caloric information printed on these tiny little packets, I decided I should probably do a little research. Since these things are so miniscule, I was thinking they might be around 80-100 calories each.

Wrong.

Way wrong.

256 calories.

256 calories for those two little bites of peanut butter. In comparison, a McDonald's hamburger has 250 calories. It's one thing if I was devouring all this peanut buttery goodness as a meal, but these were straight up snacks. I was essentially eating four hamburgers a day...as a snack!

Thus, it is with a broken spirit and saddened heart that I will now limit myself to one of these marvelous little packets each day. I'm already dreading the face-to-face showdown each time I refill my water bottle, and there the Smuckers will be, longingly waiting for me, singing its siren's song of peanut buttery bliss.

When Cultural Diversity is Bad...

2010-09-15T20:20:00.003-05:00

Cultural diversity at school? Good. Cultural diversity in the workplace? Good. Cultural diversity in a sandwich?

Nasty.

Out of the major sandwich chains, Cosi is easily my favorite. It's more unique than Subway and Panera, cheaper and less bourgeois than Au Bon Pain, and the free samples are divine. Thus, when I got an email about Cosi's new Chicken Tinga sandwich, apparently full of all kinds of Mexican awesomeness, I was all kinds of excited.

But after lunch today, there was disappointment. Only disappointment.

Of course, the bread was awesome. Guacamole, always a good thing. Alas, the pico de gallo tasted like bruschetta, the cheese tasted like feta, and the chicken was covered with tomato sauce.

Thus, with each disappointing bite, a cornucopia of Mexican, Greek, and Italian flavors filled my mouth. Amazingly, it was even worse than it sounds.

So, yea, pass on this one.

Catching Up

2010-09-13T20:41:00.003-05:00

So it's been a week full of changes here at the McCormick Household. New job (me), new schedules (both of us), new school year (Amanda), and a few new articles of clothing.

Most importantly, we've got a new television show!

I knew it was only a matter of time until I got hooked on this goodness. I hoped to get started with the crowds last fall, but I missed a few episodes and was never able to catch up. Alas, we put all the Glee DVDs at the top of our Netflix queue during our last week in Cambodia so we'd have lots of musical goodness waiting for us when we finally returned to the U.S.A.

Of course, I've loved all the cheesy singing and dancing. However, I actually thought the acting, story-lines, and character development was pretty weak at first, but the last few episodes have been amazing. Just try not tearing up a bit when Sue hangs with her disabled sister or during the deaf school's "Imagine" performance. Absolute gold.

And so yea, after a long day of work, it's nice to be come home to a friendly wife, playful dog, and a half-dozen "teenagers" that love to sing cheesy pop songs.

Best of all? There will be a Britney episode in Season 2. Holla.

A New Beginning

2010-09-06T18:18:00.004-05:00

Whether it is quitting a mind-killing job or ditching a bad boyfriend, it is always nice to move on from a bad situation. And after nine years of the Al Groh Era at the University of Virginia, it sure is splendid to be moving past those dark days. Although Groh was fired many months ago, after another disappointing and apathy-filled season, the true Orange and Blue healing began this past Saturday.

But first, the really important stuff:

I'm not a fan of the new uniforms. Ironically, I desperately hoped for the occassional orange jersey during the peak days of the Groh era (2002-2004) to help pump up the crowd (and match the rowdy Sea of Orange in the stands.) We were winning a lot of games during those days and busting out some crazy bright jerseys would have really got us Wahoos hyped for a big game. Alas, now that the orange jerseys are here, I'm yearning for the good ole' days of blue and white uniforms. The orange is too Clemson-y and the orange jersey and blue pants combo, yikes. If you're gonna go orange, go all the way, man.

Despite all that, I'm just thankful that Al Groh is no longer killing the hope and joy of tens of thousands of UVA fans.

And the Hoos won an opening day game for the first time in 182 years on Saturday night. Yea, it was only against Richmond but Groh nearly lost his first home game against the Mighty Spiders back in 2001 (a missed Extra Point saved us) and we were busy losing to William and Mary one year ago. Thus, a three-touchdown win against a good I-AA school on the first day of the Mike London Era, I'll take it. And love it.

I don't expect us to be an elite team this year, and am fully aware we'll be 1-1 after this Saturday's game at USC, but I think we'll end up being a .500 club. So long as that record includes wins against UNC and Maryland, I'll be thrilled. After last season's 3-9 record and the infinite frustration Groh caused us all during the past few seasons, that will be a huge step in the right direction. It will take some time, but London has the fire, personality, humility, and Virginia connections to help UVA take some big steps in the next few years.

I'll probably never be the obsessed and insane fan I was from 2001-2005, but it sure is nice to care again and have something to look forward to each Fall Saturday.

Thailand Adventure Day Nine - Death by Motorbike?

2010-09-06T11:10:00.008-05:00

April 10, 2010 -- Well, today was the day I had been super excited about for months. And terrified. We had a nice time in Chiang Mai, but I had been looking forward to hanging out in Pai, a small mountain town in Northern Thailand, for a long time. I had fallen in love with a similar town in Vietnam (Sapa) and it seemed like Pai would be just as charming. Oh, and today we’d be riding motorcycles.

We got up early, checked out of our hotel, and rode a tuk tuk over to a place I had found online that rents out motorcycles for trips between Chiang Mai and Pai. Although I had made reservations 2-3 times, upon arrival, they said they had no bikes left. Alas, a few magically appeared within a few minutes and we then saw these potential instruments of death for the first time. We filled out some paperwork, packed up our bags for their van ride, paid our $5, and then jumped on the bikes. But then I had to ask them how to turn the bikes on, how to open up the storage compartment, and lastly, how to actually get the thing going. While a motorcycle rental in the U.S. would require lots of instructions, training, classes, and acquiring a license, we set off on this adventure without a second of training or a single instruction. Oh, and it only cost $3. Before arriving at the rental place, I was 10% sure I’d die today. After getting our bike without getting any instructions, that number climbed to 50%.

After accelerating for the first time, I was fairly certain that I’d be dead within the next five hours. Unlike video and arcade games, where you rev the mess out of the accelerator, in a real life, a slight pull back on the handle gives you a ton of power. And so we began to uncontrollably zip down the busy street. Yikes. Turning was also quite the challenge, as I wasn’t about to be leaning off the side of this wobbly thing right away. Thus, my first turn was a bit ugly as I rolled into a lane full of oncoming traffic.

We had been given a few navigational directions, told we’d hit a petrol station, and that we could pick up the highway nearby. Said petrol station was a bit further than we expected and so we were crazy worried that we had gone the wrong way and that we’d run out of gas within minutes of the start of our trip. Alas, we finally made it, filled up, and set off along the busy highway.

And then we got lost.

Getting out of the busy city, full of cars and motorbikes zipping around, was a beast. We stopped at a 7/11 for directions, ignored them because of their complexity, and just headed in the direction where Pai should be. Unfortunately, a number of one way streets posed a few problems. Although I was quite worried that we had made a seriously bad decision as we dodged traffic, it was nice to walk our bike through some serious vehicular congestion.

We eventually got to the correct street and were greeted by a beautiful lane designated for motorbikes. Things quickly became a lot more fun as we could just cruise along at our own semi-dangerous speed. It was a great way to see the outskirts of the city and the gorgeous countryside. I quickly began to covet one of these little motorbikes.

And then we almost died.

Again.

As I mentioned before, it was New Year’s in Thailand (Songkran), which includes days of partying and lots of water-filled shenanigans. In the cities, little kids soak pedestrians and cars with buckets of water guns, hoses, and water pistols. In the countryside, little kids throw heaping buckets of dirty river water all over your face.

I approached the first group of kids, unsure of what was going on, and as I passed by, they hit me with a massive bucket of water, which smacked me in the face at 60mph. I was pretty sure I was going to fall off the bike and die right there in the middle of nowhere, but I managed to stay on the bike. Sure enough, they also got Howard with a direct hit to the face. Although we’d pass by another dozen of these groups armed with hoses and buckets, none nailed us quite like that first group of rascals.

After ninety minutes of biking, we found a few signs for a waterfall. Since we had rented the bikes for the entire day, we figured we’d give it a looksie. We got off on a side road, found a park that looked like it closed in 1988, and went down all sorts of trails looking for this waterfall. Nada. And so we gave up, continued our fun ride up the mountains, and eventually started to see a few more signs for a “nearby” park and waterfall.

And so we tried again.

We got off another little side road, went up and down some seriously steep hills, and eventually found ourselves at Doi Sothep National Park. We decided to park our bikes and explore a bit. We found a lovely trail in the dense jungle with a gorgeous waterfall at the very end. We had to cross a few little wooden bridges and dozens of festive locals to get to the little hotspot. There were kids everywhere, running around in their skivvies and having water fights, as parents picnicked and celebrated the upcoming holiday. This was truly one of the most random excursions of my life as this was definitely not a stop on any tourist trek through Thailand. I waded around in the water, got nailed by the waterfall, and then we hiked around a bit. We eventually found a “bat cave,” which was way too creepy. We went up the mountain a bit higher, but Howard was quickly running out of gas. I went a little further on my own, but quickly turned around after I started to have visions of getting attacked by some random jungle cougar while off all by myself. We then walked back down the trail, hopped on our bikes, and slowly made our way back to the main road.

I thought we only had an hour or so left, but it turns out, we would be biking for another 4-5 hours. A few times, I figured we had just rode for an hour or so, but the road signs would reveal that we had gone all of 10 kilometers (about seven miles.) As we continued to climb up the mountains, the roads got a little steeper and the turns a little sharper. However, we were finally in a groove and we were zipping along and hugging those turns. Few things in life feel better than perfectly leaning into a turn and feeling the momentum of the bike carry you into the next stretch of adventurous road.

Unfortunately, we got dangerously close to running out of gas. I probably had another hour or so of fuel, which would still not get us to Pai, but Howard was super close to empty. Unfortunately, there are no gas stations in the middle of the mountains, but only trees and small villages. We stopped at one little place, hoping they’d have some gas, but were directed back down the mountain. Once we arrived at a shack a few miles down the road, we searched around for a place with old gas canisters or maybe even a little pump. Nope. We found whiskey bottles.

After asking to find where we could get some petrol, we were directed to a little boy, who lead us over to a bunch of old bottles full of gasoline. We bought three, loaded up our bikes hoping it was the right kind, and went on our way. And sure enough, those little whiskey bottles of gas did the trick. Now, the only problem we faced was the quickly approaching darkness. And bees.

During one nice stretch of highway, I was really zipping along, when all of a sudden it felt like someone shot me in the ear. The pain was intense, but the confusion was even greater. I wasn’t quite sure if it was a bee, but I did know that my ear was absolutely on fire. Having never been stung by a bee, I worried I might be allergic and I had visions of passing out and falling off my motorbike. As we passed a gorgeous sun setting over a series of rice fields, I stopped to snap a few photos and to check out what the heck was going on with my ear. Howard confirmed the presence of a stinger. Thankfully, no passing out went down.

We eventually got to Pai, which as expected, turned out to be an awesomely charming little town. We weren’t quite sure where the rental office was and so I asked a "bloke" (turned out to be an English guy) for directions. He told us to turn right, and for some unexplained reason, I had the mother of all brain farts and nearly wiped out on my bike. We had ridden for six hours without a close call, but a mere block from the rental office, I shot through an intersection, wobbling out of control, feet skipping along the ground and I nearly ran right into a metal fence. For some inexplicable reason, I was trying to brake by pulling back on the accelerator, which is a very bad thing to do. The more I “braked,” the faster I went. As I shot by one little group of people, I could see the look of horror in the eyes of a lady as she clutched her little girl in her arms. Fortunately, I did recover, but it was insanely embarrassing as dozens of people looked on full of confusion and worry.

We dropped off our bikes and then hiked way out to our hostel. The pictures of the place looked amazing, but the Pai Countryside Guesthouse was definitely in the countryside. It was about a mile walk to our digs, which felt much longer in the heat, with our massive backpacks, and after six hours of riding a motorbike. I think Howard and I actually had a bit of a verbal throwdown during this exhausting little stretch.

However, once we arrived at the guesthouse, all the extra walking was well worth it. There were a dozen or so tiny little huts clustered in the middle of a gorgeous rice field that sat at the feet of the beautiful mountains that dwarfed the town of Pai. Since these sort of places are often quite empty, we were greeted like superstars and had a great time chatting with the owner and her family. I spent some time hanging out on the gorgeous rooftop patio, in complete awe of the amazing scenery that surrounded this group of tranquil little huts. Like Sapa, I was pretty sure this was heaven.

We rested up and then took the long, dark road back into town. After a bit of exploring, we hit up a restaurant called Pai Country. It ended up being one of our favorite places during our trip, as the food was delicious and the portions were out of control. I ordered some pasta and it was tremendous. I also got some fried rice that was full of scallions and cashews. Glorious. Meanwhile, some sort of knockoff DVD that featured female singers from the early 2000s played on a massive TV screen. We definitely had a great time reliving some of these hits from high school and the early college years, and yes, Britney did make an appearance.

Despite the good Pai vibes, we were both having some serious stomach issues and Howard zoomed back to our little hut. I decided to stick around a bit longer and I walked around town and eventually went to a bar with live music. I only stopped because I felt bad for a band playing for exactly zero customers, but I soon realized why: they were terrible and only played Thai songs. I downed a gin and tonic and set back down the terrifyingly-dark little road back to our hotel, fearful of the unseen bugs and growling bulls that were living in the surrounding fields. I then hung out on the rooftop of our awesome little patio and enjoyed the warm night air. A day that involved so much danger, excitement, and honestly, stupidity, ended with a perfectly tranquil and relaxing moment.

…and now for my favorite pictures from the day…

Summer Blues

2010-09-03T08:25:00.004-05:00

My family is growing!

That is, my Fun Pants Family.

Joining the ranks of lots of white, seersucker, and pastel pants, are these two new beauties:

and...

Although Santa showed me some Bonobos love last Christmas, I haven't actually bought any of their delicious pants since last summer, when I got these gems (too baggy in this picture) and a crazy pair of turquoise pants. I'm a bargain hunter when it comes to clothes and Bonobos aren't exactly cheap and so a bit of a fast was necessary. Alas, when I spotted those fabulous blue chinos a few months ago, the pants savings fund began immediately. They were finally welcomed into our loving family on Wednesday evening.

I went back and forth a hundred times about the red ones, as they aren't exactly a practical purchase, but after putting on the blue beauties for the first time, those red rockstars were purchased about five minutes later.

And now I have July 4th and Christmas Day outfits for the next five years.

A Step Towards Adulthood

2010-09-02T07:31:00.002-05:00

We took a big step towards adulthood this week.

Nope, no babies. Not a home purchase either.

Rather, we started getting the paper.

I always loved reading the paper as a kid. It used to be just the sports section and the "Daily Break," (Virginian-Pilot in the house!) which featured various lifestyle and entertainment-related articles. However, as I grew older, more and more newspaper sections became part of my daily routine.

However, then I went to college and ("normal") college guys don't really get the morning paper. Despite the absence of newsprint in my dorm rooms and apartments, I've still spent each of the past 3,000+ days reading various newspapers online each day. For the past four years, I've also been a big fan of the Express, a free and super-condensed version of the Washington Post found near Metro stations.

Alas, due to an increased desire for Sunday coupons, easy-to-read stock listings, and a new little morning commute tradition, we are now Washington Post subscribers. Although it has been gloriously fun to spend time reading a physical paper for the past week, I quickly learned that newspapers and the elliptical machine do not mix. Unless you happen to really like sweaty black fingertips and a soggy newspaper.

A Fun Kick in the Pants

2010-08-31T08:59:00.005-05:00

I lost eighty pounds through the help of law school books and a stationary bike.

I maintained that weight loss with DVDs and an elliptical machine.

But then my perfect little routines were thrown into complete disarray by international travel. As a a fat guy hiding in an average-sized body, I'm always a few donuts and missed workouts from falling off the healthy lifestyle wagon. Thus, missing out on a few weeks of gym trips, while simultaneously indulging in all sorts of sweet international treats, has caused some damage during the past year.

After three weeks in Egypt, it took me about ten days to crawl my ever-increasing self back to the gym. Although the gym transitions were a bit easier after my trips to Vietnam and Thailand, both of those adventures left me with some seriously dangerous culinary cravings. Thus, after spending two months in Southeast Asia this summer, where I got my eat on in a big way, I knew trouble was looming.

Wanting to avoid slipping back into some troubling routines and wage a preemptive war against the scale, I made a very important purchase:

Yep, a Playstation Portable. I know all my teenage male neighbors are crazy jealous.

Although I'm certainly not a video games kind of guy, I've been enticed by the idea of some mental vegging for a few years now. Alas, I didn't feel like I had enough time to just sit on the couch and play Madden. However, with my interests in watching movies at the gym constantly decreasing after busting out that routine for the past 18 months, I thought rocking out with a PSP on the elliptical machine would be the perfect way to have a little fun and help get my butt to the gym.

And it's worked. I've probably spent more time at the gym during the past five days than any other time in my life, including going the night we got back from Cambodia.

So yea, I feel a bit cheesy playing this little thing at the gym, but I also feel "skinny" and so I'll keep on getting my handheld nerd on each night.

The Beautiful Colors

2010-08-29T08:02:00.008-05:00

In addition to lots of wonderful little delights, there are two huge things I really love about international travel: (1) experiencing unique and foreign cultures up close and personal; and (2) realizing all the amazing things you take for granted at home.

As for the latter, there are obviously the big things you learn to never again take for granted: air conditioning, potable water, health inspectors, milk, and even sewers. But something new and profound hit me in a crazy hard way the moment we were greeted in NYC by a stank nasty subway car.

The endless array of colors in the United States.

Racial colors.

We didn't see a lot of racial diversity in Cambodia and Thailand this summer. Sure, there are various nationalities and skin tones within those countries, but they are both racially homogenous societies to the extreme. Obviously, the U.S.A. is an infinitely multi-cultural country, and probably the most diverse in human history, but it was pretty powerful to literally see this crazy wide array of colors in such a new and fresh way.

After seeing only Asian folks for seven weeks straight, aside from the occasional Australian NGOer and grungy backpacking Euro, we boarded a flight to Finland that was, unsurprisingly, full of white folks.

And then boom.

New York City.

As we shlepped our burdensome bags onto the NYC subway, I did a double take as I saw a beautiful picture of America captured on a dirty subway car. Poor folks. Rich folks. White people. Black people. Asian people. Latinos. Arabs. Young peeps. Old timers. Everybody, of all colors, races, and ages, was riding this single grungy subway car.

And it was beautiful.

A Fond, Fitting, and Filling Farewell

2010-08-27T09:03:00.002-05:00

Southeast Asia, we’ve had a good run. In fact, we’ve had a really awesome run. I had a brilliantly unique experience backpacking around Vietnam all by my lonesome (such a priceless learning and growing experience.) Howard and I later had a blast wandering around Thailand this past spring. And Amanda and I had a beautiful two months in Cambodia this summer, where we mixed a week or two of exploring with an awesome time volunteering with the She Rescue Home. It is hard to believe, but I’ve actually spent 3 out of the past 10 months living in the land of squat pots, rice fields, and motorbikes.

Alas, like the Patriots’ streak of Super Bowl victories or Battlestar Galactica, all great things must eventually come to an end. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to return to this amazing region of colorful cultures, cheap prices, and life-changing culinary delights, but it will probably be a few years. Knowing this might be our last hurrah for quite some time, we went out in a really big, and totally McCormick, way.

We ate. And ate. And ate.

The culinary victory lap began in Phnom Penh, where we devoured a brilliant lunch at Mt. Everest, a fantastic Indian and Nepalese restaurant that easily lands a spot on my favorite restaurants of all time list. After filling up on endless crackers and chutney, chicken dopyaza, rice, and garlic naan, we (slowly) made our way to the airport for our flight back to Thailand.

And then we pretty much ate our way through Bangkok for the next thirty hours.

During our short (second) visit to the Thai capital, we ate a dozen different times, none of which occurred in an actual restaurant. There was pad thai and spring rolls made on a street wok, lots of fresh pineapple, glorious $.30 bubble teas, so much sweet rice, quite a few McDonald’s chocolate-dipped ice cream cones (we soooooo need these in the U.S.), and homemade street pancakes. Of course, there were also plenty of trips to one of Bangkok’s eight thousand 7-11s, where we purchased plenty of fun little Asian goodies. Lastly, our Last Supper went down at a rickety plastic table on a sidewalk, where Amanda ate some gloriously good chicken fried rice and I nervously chowed down on a spicy basil dish.

We had both lost quite a bit of weight this summer, but I think all those efforts were undone by our food fest during the last few days of our trip. Alas, when the food is that good and that cheap, there is little hope for the two of us.

And so Southeast Asia, thanks for the beautiful memories, gloriously learning experiences, and new friendships. But you can keep the extra pounds next time.

My New Baby

2010-08-26T04:29:00.004-05:00

It goes without saying that we're super excited to be on our way home. We're currently in the middle of an eight-hour layover in Helsinki, Finland. Although we had a blast in this cool little city in July, we're just hanging out in the airport this time around since things are so crazy expensive in Scandanavia. And although we left Cambodia 2+ days ago, we still won't be home for another twenty hours. Sadness.

Alas, in addition to so many other reasons, all the usual "yay, I'm finally home!" excitement will be expotentially multiplied because this beauty will be part of the welcoming party:

I've been looking for a "man bag" for quite some time, but was never satisfied with all the bland black and dark brown leather options (however, I did find a semi-cool black one for more formal occassions.) Alas, I didn't think it would be entirely appropriate to be rolling through the professional world with a bright pink and black bag. However, after hours of searching and dozens of websites, I found this beauty. It was truly love at first sight. I had really been looking for something that looked a bit rugged, while still looking clean and trim. Specifically, I really wanted something you'd imagine an English solider rocking while fighting the Nazis in North Africa. And after all that searching, I finally found her. Even better, she was so much cheaper than a lot of other (boring) options.

Now I just gotta work on a name for my new little girl...

A New Low (High?)

2010-08-22T09:46:00.006-05:00

There are few things in life I enjoy more than saving money (of course, spending money is a lot more fun.) Whether it is $.75, $20, or thousands of dollars in interest (we just paid off our auto loan three years early. Holla!), saving a few bucks is definitely a nice thing. And Southeast Asia is always an awesome place to flex your penny-penching muscles, as super cheap food and "hotel" rooms are readily available. During the past year, I've been thrilled about regularly staying in $10 and $15/night hotel rooms during my trips to Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia.

But after the past week, we now call a $10/night hotel room "expensive."

There have been a few mosquitoes, a lack of air conditioning (but the fans work pretty well), and no hot water a few nights, but we've been rocking out $5ish hotel rooms all week. In fact, the total damage for seven nights along the coast of southern Cambodia:

$39.

Meanwhile, our "cheap" hotels in Spain and Greece were always $40 per night and didn't come with cool views like this...

The Love Cookies

2010-08-20T09:33:00.002-05:00

Our last day with the She Home was definitely a special one. We had a great time chatting with the staff in the morning, we ate a divine Khmer feast for lunch (be dessert ever!), and we played an insane amount of awesome games in the late afternoon. However, despite our food-induced coma, we had a truly wonderful experience in the middle of the intense 2pm Phnom Penh heat on this final day.

After seeing the problems related to sex slavery first-hand and hearing about the work of the She Home, we passionately wanted to hang out in Cambodia this summer and serve this amazing organization and the 20+ little girls here. Although these girls have suffered so many hardships at such a young age, they are absolutely fantastic. They are so full of love, passion, and most of all, energy. Honestly, we sort of expected to be greeted by dozens of depressed and sullen girls. However, we were gleefully welcomed by high-pitched giggles, playful hearts, and endless smiles. Thus, it was a beautiful picture of miraculous transformation and a testament of the incredible work of the She Home. More personally, it was infinitely humbling, as it is all too easy to get stressed over our daily annoyances, which pale in comparison to the hardships these girls have had to endure.

Our final day was especially touching because we spent the afternoon helping the “needy” of Phnom Penh. Amanda taught the girls how to bake various goodies throughout the summer and last weekend they made a ton of cookies. Sure, the girls (and volunteers!) ate a bunch of these sweet treats, but they all really wanted to take the leftover cookies and give them to poor people around the city. And so we loaded up the tuk tuks, went down to some of the areas where the beggars and homeless congregate, and in a flurry of activity, twenty little girls ran around passing out cookies. Seeing the burning desire of these girls, who were originally dealt a pretty bad hand in life, to show love to those in even more need, was a pretty powerful and beautiful experience. Just like the parable of the old lady who gave her last two cents to the local church, it was amazing to see these little girls, who have so little by our standards, so excited to give all they could and with their hearts open wide.

A Crazy Ol' Grandpa or a Murderer?

2010-08-19T11:29:00.005-05:00

Without question, Wednesday, August 18, 2010 was the most random travel day of my life. Additionally, it was also a day when we repeatedly asked ourselves, “are we about to get murdered?”

The day started out like any other day, right? We got some AMAZING $.25 French baguettes that were cooked over a wood burning fire. We then rented some busted up bikes for $1. And then we set off on a 30-mile bike ride in some crazy intense heat. We planned on biking through the gorgeous Cambodian countryside from Kampot (small river town) to Kep (super small beach town.) Along the way, we’d climb a few hills, explore a few caves, and visit a few temples.

However, our day took a drastic turn, when along the pot-hole ridden road from Kampot to Kep, an old white dude on a motorbike flagged us down. Thinking he needed some help, we pulled over to see what was up. He said he had seen us looking at our map a few miles back and wanted to know if we needed any assistance. We chatted for a bit, he explained that he was a missionary in this small town, and we prepared to go on our way.

But then he invited us to stop by his (and his wife’s) house for lunch. To buy us some time and gives us a chance to ponder, we said we wanted to see a few local sites first. He then said we should stop by later that afternoon and we could do lunch, hike through Kep National Park, and then go for a swim at a fancy resort. We said we’d stop by around noon and we went our separate ways.

After an amazing bike ride through some crazy villages (based on their repeated and excited yelling of “hello,” I’m not sure if they had ever seen white folks before), we did a little hiking and explored some of the caves around Kampot (with the assistance of five local adolescent boys.) After those adventures, it was judgment time. Do we assume this dude was just super nice and friendly or do we defer to our worst nightmares? Largely due to his promise that his wife would be cooking some Thai curry, we went with the former. And sure enough, we pulled up to his house, and out came good ole’ “Steve”. Now, it was along THE main road and so it wasn’t like we were in some shady area, but we were always only about 95% confident that this dude wasn’t crazy.

We ended up spending the entire afternoon and evening with this random 65-70 year old man. Sadly, we’re still not exactly sure if he was just a really hospitable guy or some sort of crazy weirdo. Here are the facts:

-”Steve” repeatedly spoke of his wife “Sarah.” Despite spending an hour in his house, we never saw or heard “Sarah.” “Steve” repeatedly insisted she was taking a nap because her back was hurt. Although I’m almost certain “Sarah” was in the bedroom, I have to admit that more than once, I had a Norman Bates-esque image of “Steve” donning the clothes of his dead wife and doing all sorts of craziness in there.
-”Steve” fed us an amazing (free) lunch and we experienced no ill side effects.
-”Steve”, an old man of about seventy years of age, was supposedly married to a 45-year old Norwegian goddess.
-”Steve” was supposedly a mega-millionaire in another life.
-Despite being a decade away from the Presidency, “Steve” blamed the post-9/11 recession on Barack Obama.
-Although “Steve” said he was a missionary, upon asking what sort of missions work he did, he failed to respond. He said ““Sarah”” gave English lessons one hour a day to some locals.
-Despite saying he was a missionary, “Steve” had no love for Arabs and said no one of Arabic descent should be allowed to serve in the military or work in the federal government.
-“The negroes never really gave me any problems.” – “Steve”
-”Steve” got our names right 90% of the times, but the other 10%, we were “Samantha” and “Matt.”
-”Steve” told “Samantha” to open the door of the poolside shower when she was in there. Twice.
-”Steve” patted my legs two times in a way that was a bit uncomfortable.
-”Steve” proudly said that he doesn’t talk to his son-in-law (or his grandchildren) any more after he told “Steve” that he believes in a “Constitution that should change with the times.”
-While at the pool, “Steve” spent 1+ hour talking to two teenage Italian girls (who were there with their families.) After the parents left, “Steve” asked them to join us for dinner.
-”Steve” took us on a nature hike and brought along a massive walking pole with a metal spike on the end. After seeing the pointy instrument, I looked to Amanda and mouthed the words, “murder weapon.”
-Early in our afternoon and in a really awkward manner, “Steve” asked to get a picture of the two of us. This was right before our hike into the woods. We both thought this would be THE picture in “Steve's" creepy book of victims.
-”Steve” was all upset they charged ONE DOLLAR to hike into the park and so he took us through his “friend’s” house to pick the trail up a later point. Thus, we’re just rolling through this dude’s house and massive property without any permission. We hiked through all sorts of three-foot grassy nastiness, and, of course, the guy’s property was fenced in. Ironically, “Steve” spent much of the day complaining about how the Khmer people have no respect for people’s property and will just walk up in your house.
-”Steve” then spent five minutes trying to figure out how we could break through the fence and climb over the razor wire. Amanda (thankfully) nixed that idea.
-“The U.S.A. is going to hell because we keep giving rights and liberties to everyone.” – “Steve”
-”Steve” cited a quote from Nikita Khruschev (former Premier of the U.S.S.R.) about how American society would collapse because we were too politically correct and tolerant. “Steve” failed to see the irony in Khruschev talking about the collapse of another society (ie-the U.S.S.R. doesn’t exist anymore; I struggled to hold my history-loving tongue.)
-”Steve” thinks Thomas Jefferson wrote the Constitution. (I REALLY struggled to hold my tongue here.)
-”Steve” claims to have worked as JFK’s personal bodyguard in the early-1960s.
-Despite knowing Amanda is only 27-years old, “Steve” thought Amanda’s dad served in the Air Force in 1962.
-“Buddhism is just an excuse for all the Asians to be lazy.” – “Steve”
-150+ years later, “Steve” is still bummed the South lost the Civil War (“but I don’t want to step on any toes here.”)
-”Steve” creepily talked about how beautiful all the Cambodian children are.
-”Steve” creepily talked about how beautiful all the Cambodian children are as he stared at a little girl.

After eating lunch, hanging out at his house, going on a crazy long hike with no breaks, and chilling at a pool, I had had enough of “Steve”. Thus, despite his insistence on going out for dinner, I faked a migraine to get out of the next part of our evening. I definitely picked the wrong lie, as “Steve” was a long-time migraine sufferer and started to ask me all sorts of questions. He then frantically looked for this “amazing medicine.” I was really afraid that I’d have to take some crazy drugs from this old man just to carry out the lie. Thankfully, he didn’t find them.

In short, it was a pretty funny, crazy, and strange day. Although I’m convinced “Steve” is not a mass murderer, I think he might be a bit of a weirdo (the patting and shower comments tipped the scales.) However, I didn’t take any chances and never turned my back to “Steve” and planned out some defensive measures if he did anything crazy.

Either way, I learned that we live in a society where there is a really fine line between amazing hospitality and eerie creepiness.

Decision Indecision

2010-08-16T09:18:00.006-05:00

It is SO hard to believe, but our time in Phnom Penh has come to an end. What once started as a small idea to do something a bit crazy eventually grew into an absolutely awesome experience. I’ll be writing some final thoughts about our time here in a few days, but as for now, the next adventure is about to begin, as we’ve got seven more days to explore this fascinating country.

We were a bit torn on how we wanted to spend our last week in Southeast Asia. I really wanted to go back to Vietnam for a few days (seriously, that place stole my heart), but the extra visa fees would cost us about $200. Thus, we decided to spend another week hanging in Cambodia. I really wanted to go exploring in the “where the heck are we?” regions to the northeast, where we could trek through virgin jungles, hang with the rare Mekong River dolphins, go on multi-day elephant treks, and stay in villages that don’t even have electricity. Unsurprisingly, Amanda wasn’t thrilled with that idea. As any guy knows, when the vote is tied 1:1, somehow the girl always has the tiebreaking vote.

Thus, we’re going to the beaches of Cambodia. Although not as random as the mountainous jungles, the thought of lounging on a beach in a place like Cambodia is pretty funny. However, I’m super excited that for the first time in any of my travels, we have absolutely no plans for this excursion. We haven’t even booked a single hotel room. We’ve just got two bus tickets to take us south, to the small town of Kampot. From there, we might go to a few other small towns, maybe wander around a national park, or even just rent a motorbike and chart our own course.

Or if Amanda gets her way, we’ll just lay on the beach all week.

(Zzzzzzz…)

College Throwback

2010-08-15T22:21:00.005-05:00

I often miss the amazing days of college. Friends everywhere, unlimited food, crazy good times, lots of sporting events, being surrounded by brilliant people, interesting courses, plenty of naps, etc. Well, despite living in Cambodia this summer and having left the college world behind 5+ years ago, the past five weeks have felt a lot like college.

After years of living in tiny Northern Virginia apartments, it was wonderful to enter the dorm-esque lifestyle again. We’ve had a handful of fabulous housemates this summer and it’s been a blast hanging with them each day, doing meals together, and watching plenty of movies and television. Alas, since I’ve been the only guy in the house, the manliest movie we watched all summer was Up. Despite an overdose of Miley Cyrus and Rob Pattinson, we had a total blast living in our massive Real World: Phnom Penh house. And now Amanda and I are both worried we’re going to be in shock once we return to our 737 square foot apartment and it’s just the two of us. Oh, and Napoleon.

Secondly, this summer was a lot like college because of these guys:

(However, since our Cambodian ramen wasn't in Enlish, we often ended up with some lackluster flavors.)

Since we usually went out for dinner each night, we tried to be as cheap as possible for our lunches. Thus, we’ve eaten Ramen noodles 30 out of the last 35 days. Although they are sooooo bad for you and the taste gets old after Day 4, you really can’t beat a $.15 lunch.

Before this summer, I hadn’t eaten Ramen noodles during the past eight years. After eating them nearly every day for the past five weeks, here’s to hoping it will be at least eight more years until I eat those sodium-filled noodles ever again.

Dog Days of Summer

2010-08-14T08:14:00.006-05:00

As our time in Phnom Penh is quickly coming to a close, I’ve spent some time reflecting on some of the things I will really miss about this place. Of course, there are the new friends we’ve met, all the precious little girls, our adventurous bike rides, and the fabulous food. However, I’m really going to miss all the dogs. The thousands upon thousands of stanky and semi-stray dogs that roam the streets of Phnom Penh.

More so than any other Southeast Asian country I’ve visited, the Cambodians really love their dogs. Unlike the North Vietnamese, they love them as pets, rather than as dinner. Thus, there are dogs everywhere. Unlike folks in the Western world, who keep their precious little canine friends in the comfortable indoors all day, Khmers just let their dogs roam the streets. Thus, just like the other members of the family, the dogs wake up, eat, go out for the day, come back for a midday snack and nap, cruise the town a little more, and then come back for the night.

As a result, on a busy street full of cars, motorbikes, tuk tuks, and bicycles, there are always dogs just cruising around. On our way to and from work each day, we probably see about twenty dogs during our short ten minute bike ride. Amazingly, despite the crazy traffic, we've never seen a single dead dog, as they all know to run out of the way when they see/hear any sort of vehicle approaching.

Although almost all of these dogs are crazy gross and can often be seen eating out of garbage bags (which usually contain some human excrement), it has been a nice taste of home. We have really missed little Napoleon, but seeing hundreds of dogs each day, even if they are quite disgusting, has been a semi-reasonable substitute.

Of these hundreds of dogs, two have stolen my heart. Our neighbor is a cute little fluffy guy, despite his bad habits of pooping/peeing all over our porch and even dragging his owners’ used toilet paper to our doorstep. Alas, I still worked up the courage to pet his flea-ridden body, which he thoroughly enjoyed. But maybe a bit too much as he now semi-humps my leg when I pet him and tries to bite me when all that great petting and scratching comes to an end.

Second, there is the Beast of the Streets I’ve named Muzzie. If you try to imagine the dirtiest and grungiest dog in the world, well, that’s Muzzie. Unlike the thousands of other dogs running around Phnom Penh, Muzzie has the burden of wearing a muzzle on his mouth. A muzzle made of a rag, old underwear, or some sort of gross bandana. Obviously, no cloth can contain the Muzzie and so now he is sporting a leather muzzle underneath his nasty cloth. Not only is Muzzie uber-dirty and some sort of threat to society, but the dude is quite the player, as Muzzie can often be seen doing the dirty deed in alleys in our neighborhood. And there is always a different dog on the receiving end of the Muzzie too. Even better, there are about five younger dogs roaming around that area, all of whom look quite similar to Muzzie, and so I assume they are all the byproducts of his handiwork. Alas, we haven’t seen Muzzie much in recent weeks, and after seeing him bust so many moves on so many different ladies, we fear he may be stricken with some form of doggie STD.

So to Muzzie, Fluffy Pooper, and all the other many dogs cruising the streets of Phnom Penh, we’ll miss you. But seriously, stay off our porch! .

(Yep, that's our porch.)

Do You Believe in Miracles?!?!

2010-08-13T09:48:00.002-05:00

It’s hard to believe, but we only have two days left of work here in Phnom Penh. I’ll be sure to post some final thoughts about our experiences soon, but as for today, it was time to PARTY!

Well, maybe I should say “party.”

This afternoon we had an end-of-the-year “party” with all the girls. With the female to male ratio hovering around 25:1, it was quite an energetic, loud, and exciting affair. Since it involved us playing and entertaining the girls for three straight hours in some crazy humid weather, it was also infinitely exhausting.

So what went down at this party? Amanda cooked some sweet treats for the girls and led the face painting efforts until the younger girls usurped control of the paint. Meanwhile, I did an ungodly amount of jump roping and dancing, and we eventually took the older girls on a bike ride around town.

And we witnessed a miracle. Yes, a miracle.

I, the owner of absolutely zero artistic skills, drew this…

Seriously.

I’ve never drawn a nice picture in my entire life and so I was beyond excited about this McCormick Masterpiece. But why did I draw a monkey? We thought it would be fun to play a Cambodian version of “pin the tail on the donkey” during our big “party.” Since kids usually like monkeys, and there are an endless amount of monkeys in Cambodia (and no sign of any donkeys), we thought we’d rock out with a little “pin the tail on the monkey.” Rather than just printing out a picture of a cartoon monkey, I figured I’d exercise my infinitely small drawing ability for the first time in a decade. Through some sort of supernatural occurrence, my right hand gave birth to that beautiful little monkey.

However, like a proud parent watching his beloved child go off to college, I let one of the girls walk away with my monkey, as she really wanted to put it on her bedroom wall. Godspeed, little monkey, Godspeed.

The Pajama Gang

2010-08-12T05:50:00.002-05:00

Look, when it comes to cultural distinctions, I’m a relativist and won’t judge the “peculiarities” of other cultures based on my own American definition of “normalcy.” Thus, when I saw 50+ cooked dogs and people eating rats in Vietnam, I didn’t hate. When I see people eating all sorts of insects in Cambodia, I don’t hate. When a Thai train shows up two hours late, and that is considered “early,” I certainly grumble, but I don’t hate.

But I draw the line at pajamas.

I’m talking to you, ladies of Cambodia, I’m talking to you.

Although the women work about 200% harder than the dudes here, who can usually be found napping, playing a version of hacky sack, or just hanging out on street corners, the ladies have to step their fashion game up a few notches.

To be fair, I’ve never been a fan of pajamas. That is way too many clothes to be wearing inside your house, and especially, while trying to get your sleep on. Too much bunching, too much tangling, too much warmth. However, I know lots of people love pajamas and that’s okay with me. Heck, even the infallible Don Draper loves him some quality silk PJs.

However, pajamas should never, absolutely never, be worn outside the home. Nobody needs to be seeing you in your sleepwear and all your business moving around under your PJs. Thankfully, Americans seem to comply quite well with this non-debatable issue. Alas, the Cambodian ladies need a little help. Actually, tons of help, as the ladies are always cruising around town in their PJs. Even worse, this isn’t a “it’s 9am and I’m going next door” kind of pajama-wearing phenomenon, but it is a “I don’t care what time it is, I’m wearing my tight silk pajamas when I go buy new tires” kind of phenomenon.

Thus, every day, no matter the time or how ungodly hot the weather is, there are women walking around in their pajamas. Fifteen-years old, forty-years old, seventy-years old, no matter the age, they are all wearing their PJs. Thus, it quite a surreal sight when you see a middle-aged woman walking down the street, while clutching two dead chickens in her hands, as she sports her Minnie Mouse cotton pajamas. At 4:00 in the afternoon! Even worse, the accompanying footwear is always sandals…with socks. C’mon, ladies. Seriously?

I never judge people based on the clothes they wear, but seriously, you absolutely cannot be rolling around town at 4pm in your PJs.

Wrestling with Injustice

2010-08-11T05:46:00.007-05:00

An important lesson I’ve learned this summer is that there are monsters living all around us. Yes, calling someone a “monster” is, undoubtedly, a harsh word to use, but it certainly applies to some of the things we’ve seen and heard in recent weeks. Additionally, after having just finished reading the book, A Crime so Monstrous (an undercover look at modern-day slavery), the word is quite fresh in my mind. The book is full of tales of seemingly-normal people around the world who do some dastardly deeds behind closed doors. Sure, we all have our faults and struggles, but reading 300 pages of stories about rape, kidnapping, and slavery, mostly involving tiny little kids, is downright disturbing.

Similarly, we’ve heard so many heartbreaking stories this summer about the girls we’ve been working with. Horrifying stuff like dads raping their young daughters and little girls being kidnapped and sold to brothels. When my only real experiences with this sort of stuff had been on Law and Order: SVU, it is pretty challenging to come face to face with someone that has experienced so much evil at such a young age. When we hear these sorts of stories, I can't stop from repeatedly asking myself two questions: (1) what kinds of men are capable of doing this sort of stuff and; (2) what can be done to stop it?

As for the first question, amazingly, most of these guys aren’t mass murderers, warlords or people that stick out in society as weirdos, but they are seemingly-normal dudes. Yet, underneath all that normalcy, these guys are monsters, including foreigners who flock to Cambodia in the tens of thousands each year. It is repulsive to see these guys walking around town with a girl/boy/man/woman that is obviously not his girlfriend/wife/son/daughter. These guys are predators, but they eventually head home, leaving all sorts of damage in their wake, and go back to their normal lives. There they are normal guys with families. Normal guys with high-paying jobs. And normal guys that go to church on Sundays (in a recent survey of clients at a local brothel, of the guys who were willing to be interviewed, 30% of the men said they attended church regularly. Insanity.)

I really struggle with the second question because there is no real way to stop this from happening. So long as there is a demand for these types of services, there will be a healthy supply. There are tons of great rehabilitation and prevention programs out there doing some amazing things, but it seems just about impossible to do any work on the demand end of the equation. Sure, frequent busts and arrests would change that, but when the police and government are involved with the whole affair (ie-the pimp I talked with in Saigon for a few hours said the hotels, even the $300/night kinds, just pay the police to look away), that isn’t going to happen.

Thus, I've been wrestling with the question of where the line of appropriate behavior is drawn when the laws aren't being enforced in the face of incredible injustice? For example, hiding Jews from the Nazis in 1940s France was illegal, but I don't think many would argue that it was wrong. However, not paying income taxes that you think are unfair? Most of us would quickly say that is wrong, but what about our own American Revolutionaries, who stared down an empire in the face of burdensome taxation? Their acts were certainly illegal in the eyes of King George, but I doubt anyone today would say they were wrong.

Somewhere in the middle of all those thorny issues, you'll find potential ideas like rescuing girls from brothels without the police or publicizing the names/faces of these child predators. Sure, taking these girls out of mafia-controlled brothels, giving them new passports, and smuggling them into a more hospitable country is obviously illegal, but I'm not sure if is wrong. The same goes for rolling up to brothels and other pedophilia hotspots, posing as customers while being equipped with Batman-esque hidden cameras to take photos of the other guys in there. And then posting the faces of those dudes all over the internet. Both of those ideas are crazy and would probably get you put into jail (or killed), but the same could be said for hiding Jews in your basement during the 1940s.

Thus, what say you, theologians, scholars, philisophers, and other interested folks? Is it wrong to break the laws of an unjust government to work towards the greater good? No, I'm not planning any undercover string operations, but I find it to be an interesting issue and important question to consider.

Confusing Simplicity

2010-08-09T11:09:00.003-05:00

Throughout the past two years of blogging, I’ve written about a lot of different topics: there have been tons of travel stories, an uncomfortable amount of posts about food, fun lists about all sorts of various topics, and endless adulation for American heroes such as Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Justins Bieber and Timberlake, and of course, Britney Spears.

But never, absolutely never, have I ever written a post about a news article.

Until now.

I’m not exactly sure what it was, but this article really spoke to me yesterday. And I know I’m not alone in this, as numerous friends of mine, of all sorts of different backgrounds, beliefs, and cultures, posted this article on Facebook. Despite the author's apparent disdain for commas, this is easily one of the most interesting and thought-provoking articles I’ve read in a long time.

In short, author Anne Rice, who is supposedly famous, publicly announced she was quitting “Christianity,” but still following “Christ.” I’m not exactly sure what those different semantics mean to her, but I found her official statement pretty interesting:

"I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or being a part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science [I especially love this one, as I strongly believe it should be Christians, believers in a purposeful universe, that should be taking the lead on scientific and environmental issues.] I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.”

Although I think Ms. Rice is blending the actual teachings of Christ with theological and denominational practices a bit too much in her use of the word “Christian,” I think she is spot on in a lot of her critique.

I’ve often felt a bit uncomfortable with the organizational side of church. I’ve always hated the “what religion are you” question, as responding with “Christian,” creates so many confusing, complex, and often, unfortunate, connotations. Even more so, I’ve disliked the “no, what religion are you” question even more, when the person is actually wanting me to say something akin to “Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, etc.” I’ve never felt comfortable living inside labels, stereotypes, and societal boxes, and so labeling my faith with a formal denominational structure doesn’t vibe with me at all. That’s why on my Facebook profile, under “religion,” you won’t find the words “Baptist,” “Church of Christ,” or heck, even “Christian.” Rather, all you’ll find is “1 John 2:6.”

“Whoever clams to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”

Thousands of sermons and books couldn’t say it better than those eleven simple words.

And so yea, Ms. Rice is right, Christianity often gets really muddled by all sorts of confusing theology and even worse, politics. Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to land in a Christian fellowship in college that emphasized relationships, both with God and each other, rather than religion. We also lucked out when we found a church in DC that lives by the same motto. In short, love God, love others. Serve God, serve others. Jesus made this pretty clear a long time ago, but ever since Constantaine turned a movement into an organized religion with heavy political ties, the message has been blurred.

Even more than the thought-provoking quote above, what I really loved about the article was Reverend Shuler’s response to Ms. Rice. I found his “Ten Thoughts” to be poignant reminders of the roadmap I should be following and what my faith is all about. I especially loved numbers 1-5. These are the core principles of Christianity and are passionately espoused by millions. Unfortunately, those powerful messages of forgiveness, service, love, and humility are often overshadowed by boring and stodgy traditions, pride and intolerance, politics, and most of all, religion. Rather than thinking about this sort of imagery, which is the type Ms. Rice decries, when I think about Christianity, I like to think about my friends who've served in Haiti or Sudan, or even the brave medical aid volunteers who were recently murdered in Afghanistan. Thus, whether it is serving in your own backyard or half a world away, that is what this whole Jesus thing should be about.

The regularly-scheduled lighthearted posts will resume tomorrow. :)

Majestic. Magnificient. Glorious.

2010-08-08T13:05:00.004-05:00

Majestic. Magnificent. Glorious.

Those types of adjectives are usually only used to describe two things: God and Tom Brady.

However, if there was ever going to be a third item/thing/person/supernatural being worthy of such praise, it would probably be Earth’s most impressive landmark:

Mt. Everest.

Unfortunately, due to the infinitely high costs and physical strain involved with climbing Mt. Everest, I’ll likely never see this incredible mountain up close and personal.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t get to tear up some amazing Indian food at the Mt. Everest each week.

I have always loved the idea of the neighborhood bar/restaurant. You go there regularly. The staff recognizes you. They know what you’ll order. You soon become friends. Well, we quickly found our favorite “place” here in Phnom Penh, which just happens to be an Indian/Nepalese restaurant named “Mt. Everest.”

To call it amazing would be akin to calling the other Mt. Everest “kinda tall.” Epic understatement.

I had never really eaten much Indian food before this summer, but those ways are long gone. Each Sunday after church, and the occasional Thursday too, we hit up Mt. E. The staff cracks up when they see us bike up to the restaurant and they all start instantly doing the sweet Southeast Asian hands together and bow routine. One mixed fruit lassi, butter/garlic/plain nan, steamed rice, and some sort of insanely good curry for me (currently loving Dopyaaza Curry) and one steamed rice and chicken curry or chicken marsala for Amanda. However, the goodness doesn't stop there as they also give us wonderfully free little breads and crackers with all the glorious chutneys too. And there are little veggies to snack on and even free bananas for dessert.

In short, the food never ends. Before this summer, I’m not sure if I have ever, EVER, gotten a to-go bag in my entire life. Leftovers just aren’t a part of my vocabulary. Alas, I always get another meal out of our trips to Mt. Everest each week. It also doesn't hurt that the service is amazing, the boss man always knocks $1-2 off our bill, and the workers there absolutely love us. Seriously, this place is gold.

And I’m going to miss it dearly.

Oops...I Did it Again

2010-08-06T20:24:00.003-05:00

My struggles with my eating and weight are well-documented here. Despite losing 70-80 pounds during the past few years, I have always had an epic struggle with snacking. Thankfully, since we’re out of the house quite a bit in Phnom Penh (and Amanda doesn’t let me eat street food), I’ve been pretty well-behaved this summer.

Alas, I hit a new low yesterday.

I wrote a few weeks ago about how my heart had been swept away by a jug full of beautiful coconut and lychee jellies. Unsurprisingly, those 90 little jellies only lasted about four days. My official statement was that four of us did all that damage, but in reality, Amanda ate one, and our other two housemates ate a whopping three. Thus, I ate 86.

Of course, more jellies were purchased, this time, in 60-count refill bags. Sadly, those bags were demolished in about two days and there was only one person doing the demolishing.

But, yesterday, oh yesterday, I went straight up jelly crazy.

Two thirty-count bags were purchased at 2:00pm. By 9:00pm, both of these glorious bags were empty. Even I, consumer of 20 Oreos and seven pieces of pizza in a single sitting, was stunned.

And did I pay the price for my gelatinous sins?

Yes, oh yes, I sure did.

Did He Really Just Say That?!?!

2010-08-03T07:23:00.004-05:00

It’s pretty common to have some sort of translation mix-up each day we spend here in Phnom Penh. This usually means the wrong food comes out at restaurants or the staff/girls at the She Home look at us in bewilderment after the translator just finished speaking. Alas, today was a day of two very memorable mistakes, one hilarious and one epically disappointing.

It was our day off and we had a big shopping adventured planned. Tailors, markets, cobblers, ice cream. Oh, and a $2.50 Thai buffet. We first went to the cobbler. After I went little crazy designing my own shoes and clothes in Vietnam, I decided I’d be good today. Thus, I brought our netbook and I planned to work on a new budget while Amanda shopped away.

Alas, I couldn’t resist. I started to peek around a bit, looking at various designs and fabrics. I just happened to ask one of the workers how much it would cost to get some sweet custom metro “sneakers” (obviously, not the basketball court wearing kind) made.

“Thirteen dollars.”

Game on, cobbler. Game on.

Paper was pulled out, designs were drawn, and I tried to mentally walk through my closet and think about what sort of shoes I should get made. I ended up with three delightfully awesome ideas: (1) white canvas sneakers with three diagonal pink stripes; (2) white canvas sneakers with three diagonal sky blue stripes; and (3) black suede sneakers with two bright white stripes. Simple and stylish, but nice and bold too. (I got some similar shoes made in Vietnam, which you can see here and here.)

I asked again, “thirteen dollars, right?”

"Yep."

For fifteen minutes, I talked to the guy about designs and we looked over sketches the two of us had worked out. Jubilation. Triumph. Elation.

Crushing disappointment.

The man then brought me the bill, which read, “$90.” Sadness. So when the guys were saying “thirteen,” they were either saying “thirty” and the accent threw us off or they got the numbers backwards. Not wanting to spend $90 on shoes I didn’t need, the blue and black shoes bit the dust. As did my dreams.

R.I.P.

The entertaining translation mistake went down while we were preparing to devour some cheap Thai food. First, we were a bit disappointed when we discovered that the Thai buffet only had five dishes, none of them named "pad thai." There was white rice, some sautéed vegetables, “fish cakes” (gross), some yellow curry, and then a pile of fresh greens and spices. Sadness. Because the meat in the yellow curry didn’t quite look like chicken, I thought about just ordering some red chicken curry off the menu instead. However, since it cost $1 more and didn’t come with the other edible things the buffet offered (even if they weren’t too exciting), I asked the waiter what kind of meat was in the curry on the buffet.

“Rat.”

Whoa.

Now, if I was a cursin’ man, this would be the time when a four-letter expletive would fly out of my mouth. Instead, I laughed stunningly, and again asked, “what sort of meat?”

“Rat.”

I nodded “ok” as the waiter walked away and the three of us cracked up laughing, while also being completely astonished. I’ve been in Southeast Asia for 2 out of the past 10 months and I have seen cooked rat once, on the same nasty street where I saw all the cooked dogs in Hanoi, Vietnam. But this was a relatively nice restaurant and although they eat lots of bugs here, I hadn’t seen any cooked rats.

Thus, I avoided the buffet and ordered the red chicken curry off the menu.

Two minutes later, the waiter returns, and points to “red chicken curry” in the menu and then to the tray of curry on the buffet. I ask, “same same?” (best phrase ever. They use it all the time in SE Asia, even while speaking Thai/Vietnamese/Khmer.) He pointed to the buffet and said, “yes, rat chicken curry.”

Thus, we quickly realized that he wasn’t saying it was rat curry (although my original question was about the meat), but he was trying to say that it was “red” curry. And so I went with the lackluster $2.50 buffet, but still avoided the “chicken” just to be safe.

(...another fun exchange at lunch was...)
Andrew-“For the buffet, can we go once or 2-3 times?”
Waiter-“Yes.”
Andrew- “So we can only go once?”
Waiter-“Yes”
Andrew-“Or can we go 2-3 times?”
Waiter-“Yes”

Sigh.

Nasty Ole' Bag

2010-08-02T09:33:00.003-05:00

There is one thing I pretty much hate about Southeast Asia (well, in addition to the whole sex slavery and corruption stuff):

The toilets.

First, there are the squatty potties, which were definitely not designed for a 6'3" guy with bad ankles and knees.

Second, there is a dearth of toilet paper (to be fair, Egypt was worse in this regard, where you are given a single sheet of toilet paper, at most.) If you're lucky, you might find a semi-nasty roll of toilet paper in the stall. More than likely, you'll have to buy some TP or find a way to go without. The locals seem to go without, as they (somehow?) use a bucket of water and a ladle, which are found in nearly every stall, to tidy up. I'm still not sure how you can use those items and not get soaked with stank water.

Lastly, the water pipes in SE Asia are seriously lacking. Thus, you're often greeted by the unfortunate sign in restaurants and hotels that reads, "please do not put toilet paper in toilet. Pipes will flood."

I'm sorry, but toilet paper was made to go into a toilet.

Surprisingly, Vietnam's toilets were pretty money and other than a horrendous experience in a train, those were an uneventful three weeks. There were a few unfortunate moments in Thailand, but things are different when you're not living in the hotel for an extended period of time. Thus, flush away. The pipes might be clogged down the road, but it's not my problem then.

But, Cambodia, oh, Third World Cambodia (technically, "Second World" under the actual definitions of those terms.) A war-torn land full of pain, poverty, and horrible toilets.

Thus, it is an absolute necessity to keep the toilet paper out of the toilet in most of the non-touristy areas here. It is even more crucial if you're living here for an extended period of time. Our digs already smell a bit stank because of some sort of flooding/sewage issue, so we really don't need any additional problems. And so, a nasty ole bag, in a wicker basket, does the trick. It ain't glamarous, it ain't pleasant, but it's life here in Phnom Penh. Amazingly, it could be a lot worse, as all the "toilets" we saw in the countryside were just like the ones in Slumdog. Heck, you often see peeps just going on the sidewalk here (which is still probably better than a squatty potty.)

Every few days, the nasty ole' bathroom bag gets thrown on the street. Again, there really isn't any sort of public sanitation here. Thus, the trash on the streets just sits there, and various levels of poor people pick through the bags looking for recycled materials and/or food. I assume dogs, chickens, and the rain take care of the rest. However, I did always wonder how the "street pickers" know to avoid those bags.

I know now that they don't.

Or maybe they do and there is some horribly nasty dog running around our 'hood. Today, as we got home from work, we were greeted by that bag, opened wide, having been rummaged through, and with its contents spilling onto the street. A totally surreal moment and something I never thought I'd see. Either some dude was really desperate to find a plastic bottle or soda can, or again, there is some stank nasty dog running around our 'hood. Although our life in Phnom Penh, when we're in the work groove, doesn't feel too much different than being in the U.S., seeing that nasty ole' bag wide open on the street was a huge reminder that we are a long way from home.

The Daily Occurryence

2010-07-31T09:43:00.008-05:00

There are a lot of "little" things about our day-to-day life in Phnom Penh that bring me great joy: passing dozens of cute (but grungy) pups as we bike to/from work (including the muzzled dog that is always getting his groove on in an alley), the crazy things you see on the city's streets, learning new Australian phrases (un-co, uni, cheeky, air con, mossie, etc.), the semi-naked men wandering around in their "skirts" each afternoon, men peeing in public all the time, families piled on motorbikes or in tuk tuks, the super fresh markets, people laughing at us as we bike around (we do stand out a little), the super cute pup that sneaks through our neighbor's gate and poops/pees on our porch each day, the security guard at the super market who always waves, the grandma at the corner store who always waves and laughs, etc.

But, of course, it is the "small" culinary joys that probably bring me the greatest happiness. More specifically, I'm talking about the curries. Lots and lots of curries.

Prior to last April, I'd eaten curry all of three times in my life. Once during the holidays back in 2000. One time with Amanda's parents. And once with Adam W., who made an absolutely amazing Thai dinner before my trip to Thailand last spring. And then I went to Thailand and ate the divine coconut milk nectar about ten times in 2.5 weeks.

And now I'm up to about 10x a week here in Cambodia. Green curry, red curry, yellow curry, Khmer curry (soooooo good!), amok, and a wide rande of Indian curry dishes. I tear up one of these heavenly meals just about each day. I thought about caving to the Western temptation and diving into a hamburger this evening, but I decided to delay gratification a few more weeks when I can tear one of these up for only $5. In the meantime, it's all curry, all the time. Oh, except for our $.15 pho lunches.

(Here are my two favorite curry dishes from the summer. Amok and Khmer Curry)

Cambodian Prizefighters?

2010-07-30T10:09:00.004-05:00

As I wrote before, while our mornings are usually filled with finance, legal, and business-related activities, our afternoons are spent with twenty-four very enthusiastic girls. There is bike riding, cooking lessons, endless jump roping, random Khmer games (usually lots of jumping involved), and the obsessive blowing of bubbles. Heck, we even introduced them to a makeshift bowling game involving a bouncy ball and toilet paper rolls. Of course, with twenty-four girls running around, ranging from ages 6-17, there is tons of giggling too.

And fighting.

Thankfully, not the super-violent or intense kind of fighting, but the typical stuff you expect from a bunch of middle school girls. Although I certainly don’t want to encourage that sort of behavior, I find it just about impossible not to start laughing when these girls start crying and whining at each other. Not just because teenage female drama can be a bit entertaining, but because some English teacher out there messed up a bit and taught the girls that the word “boxing” is used whenever any sort of conflict is going down.

Thus, these are the sort of scenes we see go down about 15 times each afternoon:

Srey A (20 out of 24 girls are named Srey something) runs over to Srey B.
Srey A takes a bottle of bubbles from Srey B.
Srey A runs away.
Srey B runs after Srey A while screaming, “Srey A boxing me!”

Or…

Srey C, Srey D, and Srey E are jumping rope.
Srey C is in the middle, as Sreys D and E are turning the rope.
Srey D goes a little too fast.
Srey C misses her jump.
Srey C screams, “Srey D boxing me!”

Or…

Srey X and Srey Y are baking cookies.
Srey X doesn’t share the elephant cookie cutter with Srey Y.
Srey Y runs away screaming, “Srey X boxing me!”

And so on.

And not only are the girls constantly screaming, “Srey Somebody boxing me,” but since Khmer is a tonal language, that “ing” is crazy loud and crazy intense. Thus, all afternoon, we hear all these little girls running around and yelling the word “boxing,” although no fisticuffs are ever involved. We both find it amazingly hilarious, but for real, “Srey Somebody boxING me!” is stuck in our heads like some sort of amazing pop song.

Worst. Talent. Ever. But...

2010-07-25T11:19:00.010-05:00

I know God made it pretty clear to Charlton Heston that jealousy was a sin, but I've always been a bit jealous of those out there with awesome singing voices. It would also be nice to be a superstar athlete or rockstar guitarist. Alas, when it comes to tangible talents, I think God gave me the grab bag of leftovers: academics, the ability to chug liquids at an insane rate of speed, and lastly, and worst of all, jumping rope.

I don't want to brag, especially about something so lame, but I've got some serious jump roping skills. Like, if there was a competitive outlet for jump roping (I really hope there is not), I would be a fantasy stud. In fact, I was even on my school's jump roping team (I bet no one even knew such a thing existed) in third grade. Heck, I also choreographed an entire jump roping dance routine for a contest back then and took home the first place trophy. Alas, since competitive jump roping didn't exist in Virginia, my promising young career quickly came to a halt when we left the Republic of Texas.

Since those glory days of 1992, I've picked up a jump rope about three times. Alas, it has become part of my daily routine here in Phnom Penh and I've had plenty of time to shake off the rust and regain my Rocky III-like form. Not only has it been a fun way to relive my childhood and provide a bit of extra exercise to help work off my new addiction (I found refill bags for only $.60!!!), but it has also helped me bond with all the little girls we're working with. In particular, one little girl and I have become serious jump rope friends.

This girl is quite the tomboy and doesn't seem to completely vibe with the rest of the girls. Additionally, it was heartbreaking to hear her once say that she was ugly because "she was like a boy and had ugly hair." Alas, despite our massive age and size differences, our inability to verbally communicate beyond "hi" and "1,2, 3"", a simple little jump rope has brought us together.

Although my feet are constantly bruised from so much barefoot jump roping (when in Rome...), it has been a total blast and one of my favorite parts of the day. The girls also get a huge kick out of it, especially when I do various tricks or do some rope jumping with 2-3 of them standing in front of me and we all jump simultaneously. Thus, it has been pretty funny to see how God can use a seemingly worthless "talent," which hasn't been tapped in nearly two decades, to bring a few extra smiles to the faces of lots of precious little girls.

But seriously, my feet hurt like crazy.

(You can find random pictures from our time in Phnom Penh here.)

"I Don't Think You're Ready for this Jelly"

2010-07-24T10:32:00.003-05:00

As a guy that grew tired of Beyone 14 seconds into her career, I never thought I'd have a Destiny Child's lyric on here, but it describes my non-work life for the past 24 hours quite perfectly. (to be fair, I'm kind of in love with Halo.)

There are a lot of things I love about Southeast Asia: the spicy food, the exchange rate, the lush nature, the exotic markets, the friendly people, the vibrant culture, etc. Most of all (only kind of kidding), I love all their deliciously sweet culinary treats (I still haven't quite recovered from all the ice cream, smoothies, and bubble tea I devoured during my spring trip to Thailand.) Although Cambodia doesn't have nearly as many of these goodies as Thailand does (seriously, someone is selling something that tastes great, but will make you fat, on every street corner.) But yesterday, at a Phnom Penh grocery store (not much bigger than a big CVS in DC), I found my ultimate weakness. My kryptonite, my Achilles heel, my lychee jellies.

I'm guessing the only people who know what I'm talking about are (1) my Filipino friends; and (2) people of other races that have been semi-adopted by Filipino friends and family over the years. Lychee jellies are these glorious little drops of harder-than-usual jello with a tiny little piece of lychee fruit inside. The jello can come in all sorts of various fruit flavors. Even better, some have additional flavoring poured on the top of the jelly. Open the little package, suck the juice, and then pop that sucker right in your mouth. Perfect.

But not if you do that 27 times in 12 hours. Sigh.

I bought a massive jug of these suckers for about $2.50. Not only was it filled with all sorts of various flavors, but they were all doused with glorious coconut syrup. I told myself this was my summer treat and that they would last me until we left Phnom Penh in late August. The next day, half the tub is gone. I had actually lost a few founds during our first two weeks here, but the tide is probably turning, all thanks to these little bits of gelatin heaven.

(you see these glorious treats in the back row, on the left)

A Day in the Life

2010-07-21T06:43:00.002-05:00

Some of you all have been asking what our days are like here in Cambodia and what sort of work we’re doing. Although things certainly change (a lot) each day, here is my best stab at what a typical day looks like for us this summer:

5:50am – Andrew dreams about being at a Sean Kingston concert.
5:51am – Andrew and Amanda wake up to the construction crew next door playing a bootlegged version of Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girl.”
5:52am – Andrew and Amanda fall back asleep
5:56am – Andrew and Amanda wake up to the construction crew demolishing the house next door, one loud swing of a sledgehammer at a time.
5:58am – Andrew and Amanda fall back asleep.
6:01am – 6:50am – See 5:56am and 5:58am.
6:55am – Amanda wakes up.
6:56am – Andrew stretches out under the mosquito net.
7:25am – Andrew wakes up.
7:50am – Andrew makes toast from our $.15 cent French baguettes
7:57am – Andrew waits for Amanda and wonders if this will finally be the day (after 4.5 years of marriage) when Amanda is ready is on time.
8:01am – Andrew hopes that tomorrow might be that day.
8:09am – Andrew and Amanda walk out the door wearing semi-ratty clothes that we would never dream of wearing in the United States.
8:10- Andrew and Amanda pull bikes off the patio. First sweat stain appears.
8:10 – 8:19am – All the locals along our commute stare at us as we bike past them.
8:19am – Andrew starts to open the padlock on the office gate.
8:20am – Andrew still tries to open the padlock on the office gate.
8:21am – Amanda rolls her eyes.
8:22am – Andrew and Amanda enter office and instantly thank the Lord for air conditioning.
8:23am – Andrew and Amanda gather their things for the day and journey to the girls’ home.
8:30 – 9:00am – Andrew leads devotions with the full-time Khmer staff about various religious, cultural, and family issues.
8:30-9:00am – Translator constantly wonders what y’all means.
9:00am – Andrew and Amanda return to office and again thank the Lord for air conditioning.
9:00 – 11:30am - Andrew either (1) prepares documents for litigation; (2) writes reports about the She Rescue Home that are required by various governments, donors, and sponsors; or (3) helps out with the microenterprises that have been established to provide the girls’ families with stable incomes.
9:00 – 11:30am - Amanda makes various crafts and educational materials; (2) helps out with the microenterprises; (3) organizes materials and/or rooms; or (4) prepares English lesson plans
9:00-11:30am – Mosquitoes feast happily on the sweet white flesh of Andrew and Amanda.
11:30-11:40am – Andrew and Amanda bike home. Same locals stare at us, but this time the men are not wearing shirts.
11:40am – Andrew and Amanda make $.15 ramen noodles, $.22 pre-packaged pho, or disappointingly bad peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
11:51am – Andrew sticks spoon directly into the disappointingly bad peanut butter and eats “dessert.”
11:54-12:30pm – Andrew and Amanda prepare for afternoon activities.
12:30-1:10pm – Andrew naps. Amanda finishes her work.
1:10-1:20pm – Andrew and Amanda bike back to work. Locals stare.
1:20 – 4:00pm Andrew and Amanda either (1) help with microenterprise activites; (2) take the girls on a field trip to places like the Royal Palace or National Museum; (3) run super random errands to various places around Phnom Penh; or (4) complete leftover tasks from the morning.
4:05 – 5:00pm – Andrew musters up every ounce of energy possible and leads the girls in various games, sports, and other physical activities. Andrew introduces childhood playtime hits, such as Red Light, Green Light and Simon Says, to Cambodia. (In two weeks, I’ll actually be teaching all the older girls a dance to Party in the U.S.A., which will be performed at their end-of-summer party. SO excited.)
4:05 – 5:00pm – Amanda looks on and thinks, “I sure am glad I didn’t get that assignment.”
5:00 – 5:30pm - Amanda talks to the twenty-four girls about issues like self-esteem and beauty. Amanda forgets the whole translation thing. Translator looks on with confusion.
5:30 – 6:00pm – Andrew and Amanda chat with the girls and play around a little. Twenty-two girls want Andrew to pick them up and lift them high in the air. Sixteen year old girl asks to get picked up. Andrew awkwardly declines.
6:01 pm– Andrew and Amanda bike home. Locals stare. Now, all the older men are only wearing scarves wrapped around their bums. (on Thursdays, we would now take the girls to a dance aerobics class in the middle of the park. Awesome.)
6:10pm – Andrew and Amanda quickly peel off sweaty clothes and put on fresh clothes.
6:11pm - Sweat stains appear.

And that is pretty much our typical day at work!

Hit-and-Run Baby

2010-07-19T09:36:00.004-05:00

I went the first ten thousand and thirty seven days of my life without getting hit by a car. Fortunately, that streak will continue for at least another day.

But I did get hit by a motorcycle.

Just like any other major Southeast Asian city, the traffic in Phnom Penh is insane. There are no speed limits, very few stoplights, no stop signs, and no real traffic laws. Thus, you’ll see confusing combinations of motorbikes, cars, tuk tuks, bikes, and pedestrians zipping all around the road, with no real resemblance of any order or pattern. Although the traffic in Phnomn Penh is nothing compared to the insanity of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), I still managed to go and get hit by a motorbike on the way home from work today.

So Amanda and I are biking all over the place here. To and from work, to and from dinner, and just to wander around the city. (We're also biking about 15 miles tomorrow, for a visit to the Killing Fields, but I don't think she's aware of the distance yet.) It’s a cheap and fun way to get around and I could definitely use the exercise after eating curry about 6x a day. Interestingly enough, I’m too scared to ride bikes at home because I worry too much about falling and busting my head, or alternatively, having to wear a helmet and messing up my hair.

But not overseas. No helmet required. I also am a bit more adventurous during my travel adventures. So we might as well bike down a semi-highway and through a five-land roundabout, ringing my sad little bell all the way. However, we do stick to a slow pace and ride conservatively, but the peeps here have a nasty habit of cutting right in front of you and then making some crazy turns. Well, today it happened.

As we were crossing the way-too-busy street we scramble across four times a day, Amanda was riding in front of me for the first time. As I prepared to cut across the road, there was a motorbike to my right, also making the same move to get to the other side. Rather than following a straight line and staying in her own path, she crossed into my lane and cut immediately in front of me. As she did so, the side of her motorbike smacked into my hand and my poor little biycle (seriously, all the bikes in Cambodia are from 1960.) I wobbled, I regretted not wearing a helmet, I wobbled a lot more, but feeling inspired by a mini-prayer and not wanting to visit a Cambodian hospital, I recovered.

It was a terrifying two seconds, as I felt, and heard, her brush past my leg, smack into my bicycle, and as I teetered down the road towards oncoming traffic. Even worse, the smack was punctuated by a high-pitched "whoooo" from her, as if she sort of enjoyed the excitement of the ordeal. Did she check to make sure I wasn't dead? Nope. Did she even look back? Nope. As I gazed in the direction of the lady who almost killed me, all I saw was her little 2-year old baby plopped on the back of the bike, giving me the evil eye as they continued on down the road.

The Ninja Turtles Would be Homeless Here

2010-07-17T07:19:00.005-05:00

When you’re living in a place like Cambodia, there are many American niceties that you realize you take for granted. Of course, things like potable water, consistent air conditioning, and Mexican food are the obvious ones. Less noticeable ones (until you see bugs, rats, and cats running through restaurant kitchens) include health inspectors and sanitation workers (the Khmer just put their garbage on the road and different levels of poor people gradually pick through the bags.)

Well, now I’m starting to realize that I never really properly appreciated sewers during my first 27.4 years of life.

We’re in the early stages of the wet season here and so we’re usually greeted by an intense, but brief, storm each afternoon. We actually got trapped in the Russian Market during our first Cambodian mini-monsoon and had to hang out under a tarp for 45 minutes. Alas, when the rains come, rather than water flowing down into the Phnom Penh's sewer system, it just sits there.

Thus, each afternoon, our street (155!) looks like the below photos. We’ve also started to bike to/from work each day and have been fortunate enough to avoid these mini-floods, but since our trek includes a few hills, when that day comes, it should be quite the interesting commute “home.”

Raped. Rejected. Restored.

2010-07-14T10:31:00.002-05:00

As you can tell from the title, there will be a dearth of cheesy posts about Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and Britney Spears this summer. We’ve now been in Phnom Penh for two days, and along with the endless dust and heat, there has been plenty of heartache.

But more importantly, hope.

We’ve already had the chance to meet the girls we’ll be working with and supporting this summer. Just like any girls, they love giggling, fixing up their hair and nails, and, of course, crushing on boys. However, these girls also carry some very heavy and traumatic burdens from their dark and painful pasts. It is absolutely stunning to see their young smiling faces and to then hear the horrific things they have had to endure during their young lives.

Fortunately, the organization we’re working with, the She Rescue Home, is doing tremendous things to help give these girls a second chance. There are a number of awesome organizations in Cambodia, including the She Rescue Home, that help rescue and rehabilitate girls that have been trafficked. However, the She Home is also doing incredible things to help girls who are extremely at-risk of ending up in that horrible world. There are so many horror stories out there about young girls who have been stolen and put into brothels and have endured so many terrible hardships. Thus, it is SO important that the She Home is also doing some amazing things to help girls before they have to experience that sort of torment.

One such at-risk population in Cambodia is rape victims. Obviously, rape is a horrendous thing and probably the worst thing a person can endure. Unfortunately, a rape victim in Cambodia isn’t met with sympathy or support, but rather, with scorn, hate, and abandonment. Since the girl is now seen as dirty and worthless to the family (even if the dad was the perpetrator), she is often sold to traffickers or kicked out of the family home. Thus, it is so crucial to intervene during these early stages, rather than after years of torture and abuse.

Despite all that gloom, there are also many tales of victory. The She Home has been able to pull a lot of these girls off the streets and have given them the support and attention they need. Just as it is difficult to hear so many tales of grief, it is absolutely thrilling to hear beautiful stories of redemption and rebirth. So many of the girls are dominating school and emerging as leaders in their communities. We’ve also had the chance to visit a few local businesses, including a delightful cupcake café, that employee some of these girls. I can’t even begin to describe the joy you feel when you see a stunningly gorgeous wedding cake that has been made by a young lady that has escaped from such a dark world and is now striving to build a new life for herself. It is truly humbling to be part of something so beautiful.

And so there are certainly some evil people out there doing some absolutely horrendous things, but hope, freedom, and restoration are winning. Thus, thanks to all of you who have partnered with us to help give these precious little girls a second chance at life. If you'd like to join the fight, you can donate at the Paypal link in the top right corner of this page or make a tax-deductible donation here (just shoot me an email at aamccormick@gmail.com if you roll with that option), where you can also select how you'd like the money to be spent (counselors, school supplies, housing, etc.)

We miss you all!

Angkors Away

2010-07-13T09:10:00.004-05:00

Karnak Temple. The Parthenon. Wat Po. The John Paul Jones Arena.

All are historical landmarks that I instantly fell in love with.

Well, time to add one more to the list. Or like 200.

The Temples of Angkor.

I’ve wanted to see the legendary Angkor Wat, one of the Eight Wonders of the World, for a long time. As the biggest religious building ever made and one of the largest historical sites in the world, this is a true must-visit destination for all us history nerds. Thus, it worked out well that Siem Reap, and the surrounding temples of Angkor, are on the way from Bangkok to Phnom Penh.

We had a great, but infinitely hot and sweaty, two days in Siem Reap that were certainly some of my most memorable travel days. Angkor Wat was Angkor Wat. Massive. Inspiring. Eerily gorgeous. Alas, it was only the beginning because there are 200+ temples scattered around Siem Reap. We spent two full days biking around 300 degree weather and we only managed to see about a dozen of them. I instantly fell in love with the Bayon Temple, which includes hundreds of massive face carvings throughout the eerie complex, and Ta Prohm, which is an ancient temple that has fell victim to the powerful jungle and its relentless trees.

Other than the fascinating and gorgeous temples, our days in Siem Reap for memorable for two other reasons: the food and the busted bicycles. First, Khmer food is ridiculous. Like, I’m ready to sell all my possessions and move here just for the food ridiculous. The curries are amazing, but amok, the staple dish, which is an egg-based curry-like dish, is out of this world. Thus, it was eaten a lot during those few days, along with lots of great curry and various rice and noodle dishes. Even better, Cambodia is the land of watermelons and coconuts, and so I was truly in heaven, as every meal was accompanied by a fresh coconut, a spoon, and a straw.

As for the bikes. When I even think about a bicycle, sharp pains shoot through my bum (we’re already beginning to talk like Aussies, as we’re working alongside them here in Phnom Penh). During both of our temple days, we rented these old and busted bicycles that were out-of-date back in 1962. The handlebars were wobbly, the chains rusty, and the seats, oh the seats, were like sitting on a piece of sharp cement for hours. Both days, we biked from 8:30am until 3:30pm, with a brief lunch break in the middle. We’d bike for a few kilometers, wander through a temple, and then hop back on those pieces of junk. All in all, we biked about 30km during those two days, which felt more like 300km when considering the unbearable heat, humidity and the bustedness of the bikes. Alas, as taxis, buses, and tuk tuks full of visitors continually passed us, I cherished the freedom, exercise, and oneness with nature that seeing these ancient wonders by bicycles provided. Except for the last hour of our second day, when I literally thought I was going to die and could no longer bear to sit on that seat any longer. Alas, this unique way of seeing these endless temples certainly made the experience all the more memorable and I will gladly trade a sore bum for some priceless memories.

You can see all the pictures from our travels around Angkor here, but this one (taken at 9:30am) is probably my favorite:

Cambodian Adventure - Bordering on Insanity

2010-07-12T21:05:00.007-05:00

Whether it is Saving Private Ryan or Full Metal Jacket, most classic war movies feature at least one scene that features a bombed-out village or town that has been ravaged by war and is now in a state of complete chaos. Buildings are crumbling, people are running in the streets, constant shouting fills the air. Plus, in the movie, as the protagonists wander through this town, unsure of the fate that awaits them, it is probably raining.

Sure, there were a lot fewer bullets and a lot less heroism earlier this week, but those sort of scenes were eerily similar to our crossing of the Thailand-Cambodia border.

There are three main ways to get to Siem Reap, Cambodia from Bangkok: (1) fly, which would cost about $250-300 ticket; (2) take a “scam” bus from Khao San Road, which can taken 12+ hours and you get dropped off in the middle of nowhere at 2am; or (3) do it yourself and walk across the border. With money and time a bit limited, we went with Option #3. Yes, we saved some time and money, but there was no shortage of stress.

However, the day actually started off smoothly as our taxi driver didn’t try to rip us off on our way to the bus station and our bus to the border got there on time (heck, we even got free snacks on the bus.) Even better, when we arrived at the small town near border, which is straight up in the middle of nowhere, the prices the tuk tuk drivers quoted for the ride to the border was exactly what the guide books said we should pay (this is REALLY rare.) Score. And then they dropped us, and four Euros, off at a little stand that didn’t really seem like a border outfit, but we weren’t quite sure.

Nope, it wasn’t.

Just like the guide books warn, the tuk tuks dropped us off a few miles short of the border, at a little tour company that is there to scam tourists. They told us all the Cambodian visa prices had gone up. Fortunately, we already had ours. The Euros called their bluff, but the guys then got on the phone and acted like they were talking with the border guards. Fearful of getting stuck at the border because of some corrupt arrangement, they all bought visas at inflated prices. Also fearful of getting stuck on the Cambodian side with no way to get to Siem Reap, we all paid inflated prices for a shared taxi ride for the two-hour trip. Although the two of us overpaid by $8 total, it was still sickening to sit there and know you’re getting scammed. Eight dollars might not seem like a lot, but to me it is a Chipotle burrito and a McDonald’s ice cream cone.

And then finally the tuk tuks took us to the border, where we were met with absolute chaos. Children were running through the dirt streets screaming all sorts of craziness. Donkeys and cows were walking all over. Constant yelling. Incessant honking of horns. The entire place was in complete disarray. And then it started to downpour like something I’ve never seen. To add to this wartime imagery, there were lots of men with missing limbs hobbling around and sitting on street corners (unfortunately, due to unexploded U.S. bombs from the Vietnam War and Khmer Rouge landmines, this is a huge problem in Cambodia.) Seriously, it looked just like the scene in Saving Private Ryan when Vin Diesel dies (except, again, a lot less violent, scary, and heroic.) Alas, we were all pretty stressed, sure that one of these little kids grabbing at our heels would steal something from us, and quite confident that we’d never see the car that was supposed to be waiting for us on the Cambodian side. To make matters worse, Amanda and I had managed to throw away our Thailand departure card earlier that day, so we were worried we might not even get to use that taxi into Cambodia. Sigh.

Alas, it all worked out in the end. The entire scene was pure chaos and absolutely unreal and we just walked right through it as we strolled across the border. As we exited the Cambodian border checkpoint, we were surrounded by dozens of men yelling and screaming at us, pleading that we ride in their “free” bus, car, or shuttle. Alas, I had spotted our car and we dashed through this gauntlet, through the pouring rain, and right into the this-is-too-small-for-five-people car. As we all sweated profusely, with mud-filled shoes and rain-drenched clothes, we got to know our two new Euro friends really well, really fast.

(We arrived in Phnom Penh late last night and start work this morning. Thus, the substantive updates are coming sooooon.)

Cambodian Adventure - Second Thaim Around (Day 2)

2010-07-10T19:50:00.002-05:00

July 8, 2010 -- With today being the only full day we'd have to explore Bangkok, it is safe to say we were a bit busy. It is also safe to say that it was the hottest days of our lives (until we got to Cambodia) and that we walked about 903 miles (1453 kilometers.)

Like most days when we're both heading to the same destination, the morning started with me being ready 2-3 minutes before our target departure time and Amanda following suit 19 minutes later. :) We then rolled out of the hostel, hit up 7-11 for the first of four visits today (an absolute must in Thailand because of the A/C and cheap food/water), and set off for the Grand Palace. Along the way, we passed dozens of guys offering us tuk tuk rides and tours around all the historical sites. That is always a bit entertaining at first, but it really starts to wear on you after a few days. Although it was only 8:00am, we also quickly realized how terribly hot it was going to be today. It was probably already 90 degrees, but the humidity was absolutely out of control. While it would regularly be 100+ during our time in Egypt last summer, it was a manageable dry heat. In Vietnam last October, it was hot, but it was also the middle of the rainy season and so the temperatures were never out of control (although it did rain every single day.) In Thailand last April, it was amazingly hot, but not nearly as humid as the weather in July. Thus, the clothes got real damp, real quick.

As we neared the palace, just like last spring, tons of guys tried to tell us it was closed, that we couldn't get inside because of our clothes, and that we should go on little tours with them instead. Of course, they were all lies. The palace ended up being absolutely amazing. So ornate. So massive. So colorful. So magnificient. While we were in the area around the Temple of the Jade Buddha, the place was absolutely packed with tourists, most of them Japanese. However, by the time we made it to the actual palace, the place was just about empty, which was a nice break from the crowds.

We then made our way down to Wat Arun, which is a super sweet, and unique, temple on the west side of the river. After some awesome dragon fruit juice and a $.05 river taxi ride, we began the difficult climb up this towering temple. The stairs are SO steep, SO narrow, and SO uneven. However, the view at the top is quite rewarding and it is pretty entertaining watching people climb up and down these crazy stairs.

After the scary climb down, we crossed back to the east side of the river, and began our lengthy walk to a sweet little "restaurant" Howard and I found last April. And by "restaurant," I mean a little lady with a few tables set up in a gas station parking lot. We finally arrived after a crazy long and hot walk, but the lady wasn't serving the noodles I fell in love with last spring and the food she was serving looked a bit too sketchy. Thus, we continued our hunger fast and checked out a few more temples, including the Big Buddha, where we saw a monk sit completely motionless for 20+ minutes. The guy didn't even blink. Totally crazy.

We eventually made our way back to Khao San Road, ate some $1 pad thai on the street, and indulged in a $.20 McDonald's ice cream cone. And then got our nap on.

After resting up, we made our way back to the Golden Mount since it closed just as we reached the top yesterday afternoon. After enjoying the awesome view, we jumped in a canal taxi and made our way back to the ritzy mall area. After some bubble tea and fresh pineapple, we wandered around a bit and eventually found our way to a very awesome restaurant downtown. Although we managed to get overcharged somehow (cheap food, inflated drink prices), the food was super unique and completely awesome. After dinner, we wandered around A LOT, took our first metro ride in Bangkok, and eventually made our way back to our gross hotel after a bit of shopping for cheap t-shirts. It was a busy 1.5 days in Bangkok, full of amazing sites and delicious food, but we were super excited (and a bit nervous) about "tomorrow's" unorthodox journey into Cambodia.

You can see more pictures from this day here, but I think this one is my favorite:

Also, here are some pictures from Siem Reap, Cambodia (we're a few days behind with the blog due to some spotty internet connections in Bangkok)

Cambodian Adventure - Second Thaim Around (Day 1)

2010-07-09T19:02:00.006-05:00

Home.

A place you feel at ease. A place that feels familiar. A place that feels warm and welcoming.

Bangkok.

A place with seven million people, constant chaos, vibrant colors, strange smells, and a perpetual buzz of activity.

Now, Bangkok doesn't exactly feel like home (ie-I don't know a single person there), but as we trekked around the overwhelming city over the past few days, it felt incredibly familiar. As I showed Amanda my favorite wats (temples), the best little food vendors, and the heavenly places where you can get awesome $3 t-shirts, it was as if I was playing DC tour guide for a visiting family member. Even better, I didn't have to look lame and carry my busted looking Thailand guide book around all day.

Although we were only in Bangkok for less than two days, it was an action-packed time and so it felt like an eternity. Sort of like our 45-hour trek from DC to Thailand. We got in around 2pm, waited for a bus to our grungy backpacker neighborhood, Khao San Road, and eventually made it to our "this looks nothing like the website" hostel around 4pm. After a bit of freshing up, we set off to explore the city.

We walked through the Khao San Road craziness and passed through the Democracy Monument area. Last time I was here, there were thousands of protesters crowding the streets, overturned tanks and other military vehicles, and dozens of memorials dedicated to people who had died during the protests. Along with the corresponding blood stains. This time, there were no Red Shirts and no tanks. Just lots of cars and people eating McDonald's.

We eventually made our way to the Golden Mount, which is a beautiful temple set upon a larger-than-it-seems-when-you're-walking-up-all-those-bloody-stairs kind of hill that overlooks the city. I wasn't exactly sure when it closed, but we got 75% of the way up and were then greeted by a locked door. Bummer. We trekked back down the hill and I led us through some local neighborhoods towards a nearby smelly canal. I believe it was during this time that Amanda said, "I don't like doing non-touristy things."

Hmm, I think she's with the wrong dude.

We got to the canal, boarded the little boat, and were surprisingly joined by two other backpackers. We paid our $.30 fare and off we went. The water taxi passed through all sorts of shacks along the canal, which is quite fascinating because only a block away from these slum-looking places are tons of ritzy malls and hotels. We eventually got off the boat and I showed Amanda around the Siam area. There are 5-6 malls in the area, all of which are 7-9 stories tall and filled with high-end shops like Prada and Versace. It is an absolutely unreal. We headed for Central World, which is the massive mall where I met a few Thai movie stars and crashed a fashion show back in April. Unfortunately, the protesters had burned part of the mall and so this glorious place of consumer wonder was closed. But the little bubble tea lady was still doing her thing. Holla.

We eventually made our way to Siam Paragon, which is another, and even grander, one of these insane malls. Nine stories of stores, the largest acquarium in SE Asia, a handful of ridiculous car dealerships, dance clubs, an IMAX theatre, 300+ restaurants, a massive grocery store, a gym, bars, etc. All that is in a single mall. We walked around a bit, flirted with the idea of seeing Eclipse, and eventually downed some amazing food. After dinner, Amanda was starting to feel the effects of our lengthy journey to Thailand and so she was ready to crashed. We hailed a tuk tuk, took a wild and terrifying ride, and then listened to a guy trying to sing Johnny Cash all night long just outside our window. Seriously, until 4am, which means we heard him sing "Ring of Fire" and "I Wok the Line" about a dozen times each.

You can find pictures from our day here, but I think this is my favorite picture of the day.

PS-We're on Team Edward.

Cambodian Adventure - Finnishing Before We Even Get Started

2010-07-06T14:13:00.007-05:00

Well, after months of planning, we're currently on our way to Cambodia. The bad news? Even after 33 hours of traveling, we're still eleven hours away from Southeast Asia. The good news? We had a rocking good day in Finland. Yes, Finland. It was a day full of really random sightseeing, endless exhaustion, lots of churches, plenty of ice cream, and a never-ending supply of "awesome" puns.

After a speedy bus ride to NYC and a few delightful New Yawk bagels, we made our way over to JFK. After rocking out on this lengthy subway ride all by myself the past two times, it was nice to have someone else along for the ride. We eventually made our way to our gate, where we were greeted by lots of blonde stewardesses and more white people than you could ever imagine. Seriously, there was one Indian guy on our massive plane. The rest of the bunch were white folks, most of them of the Finnish variety.

Whether it was "I hope our plans don't go up in Finn air" or "are you gonna Finnish that water," the cheesy puns started flying early and often. The same can be said about various ABBA tunes (Sweden is close enough for this to be somewhat acceptable.) The flight was long, but quite uneventful. We arrived in Helsinki, found even more white people, the longest and most consonant-filled words imaginable, and a bus that would take us to the middle of town. After getting dropped off at the train station, I busted out the horribly-drawn map I had sketched out the night before, with a few "must-see" stops listed along the way, and we set off on our brief Helsinki Adventure.

The streets were clean, the air was cool, and the Finnish capital was filled with a peace rarely found in any other major international city. Thus, Helsinki is nothing like Phnom Penh.

We first set off for the Church of the Rock (pictures below), which is a gorgeous church that was built directly inside a massive rock/cave in the middle of Helsinki. Although it looks a bit like a UFO from the outside, the building is absolutely gorgeous inside. Despite the throngs of cruise ship tourists, it is an overwhelmingly serene atmosphere inside. Although you'll find other churches in Europe filled with priceless art and incredible ornamentation, the Church of the Rock is probably the most memorable.

We continued to stroll around town, enjoying the beautiful architecture, the cobblestone streets, the streetside cafes, and the lush parks sandwiched between rows of small shops and rowhouses. It was all very European, but on a much smaller scale and relaxed environment than you'd find in London or Paris. We eventually continued our unofficial Church Tour and visited the stunningly-gorgeous Lutheran Cathedral (pictured below...the white one) and the gargantuan Russian Orthodox church. Bentween some of those sites, we had awesome crepe-filled lunch at a cafe right in the market alongside the Gulf of Finland. This made me quickly realize why I've opted for Asia and Africa during my recent travels, as this simple lunch set us back more than $20 (meanwhile, comparable meals in Cambodia will be about $.50.)

And then we hit a wall.

We flirted with the idea of taking a ferry ride out to an old fort, but opted to pass because the trip would cost us about $15 (plus, I saw it back in 2001.) However, it started to pour while we were at the ticket booth and we sought refuge in the small shelter for about ten minutes. During this time, the lack of sleep over the past 24 hours and the lengthy time spent crammed into a narrow airplane seat, caught up with us both. We decided to head back to the airport where we could catch some Zs, but were forced back inside after another rainstorm, this time seeking shelter in Helsinki's very cool City Hall. After this pitstop, I indulged in some ice cream that was abslutely incredible. Amanda quickly followed suit, despite the $6+ pricetag, and she felt just as strongly about this divine creamy treat. After stopping for one last ice cream and doing a bit of plane snack shopping at a local grocery store, we hopped back on the bus, instantly fell asleep, and have spent the rest of the evening catching up on some Zs at the airport.

...and now for a few of my favorite pictures from the day (you can find the rest of them here)...

Hanging out at City Hall to get out of the rain...

The Finnish language is out of control...

Soapy fountain...

Absolutely loved those skinny trees...

Inside of the Church of the Rock...

Atop the Church of the Rock (after feeling inspired by the close proximity of ABBA's birthplace)...

Church of the Rock...

Yo, longest word ever.

...and away we go...

2010-07-05T09:19:00.005-05:00

Like most days, we walked out our front door this morning. Although it was a bit earlier than usual, it didn’t seem all that different than most days.

Except that we wouldn’t be coming home, and walking back through that same door, for
more than seven weeks. Now, the length of our trip this summer didn’t come as a surprise to us, but the true weight of “seven weeks” didn’t hit us until the past few days. The summer has already been a rich time of fellowship with friends and family, which has made it a bit harder to head overseas for the next two months. (side note-preparing for this trip has given me an even greater appreciation for our military heroes, who are uprooted from their friends, family, and homes for 6-12 months or more.)

Despite this bit of sadness, we are infinitely excited about this opportunity to serve. Cambodia has been on my heart and mind for a long time and I’m thrilled to have the chance to explore, invest in, and better understand this complex, interesting, and war-ravaged country. After seeing some of the horrors of sex trafficking during my previous travels in Southeast Asia, I am also thrilled to have the chance to help combat this terrible injustice. This is a dark issue that desperately needs a spotlight and so I’m excited about directly serving the kids in Phnom Penh, but also sharing our experiences with all of you to help put living faces and stories on the problem of sex trafficking. A single line from Hillsong's With Everything, perfectly sums up my feelings: "let hope arise and darkness tremble."

Oh, and getting to do legal and policy work in Southeast Asia to help prosecute the men who capture and torture these little kids. Dream job.

Lastly, I’m also excited about loads of random adventures and the drama that will certainly unfold during our off-the-beaten-path journeys. Oh, and joining a Cambodian boxing gym and eating tarantulas (during the rule of the Khmer Rouge, 1+ million Cambodians were massacred and those who survived faced incredible famine, so they turned to their eight-legged fuzzy neighbors for sustenance.)

We’re currently on the bus to NYC, but we won’t actually be touching down in Southeast Asia for another 41 hours. We fly from NYC to Helsinki, Finland, where we have a fifteen-hour layover. I’ve put together an epic walking tour (could be a disaster after factoring in the lack of sleep) for our time there, so that should be an awesome and completely random day. We will then hop on another Finn Air flight and make our way to Bangkok. We’ll spend about two days in the Thai capital and then begin our interesting jaunt to Cambodia. Rather than taking a direct bus, which avoid the potential problem of getting lost, but are complete scams and time-wasters, we’re blazing our own trail. From Bangkok, we’ll take a public bus to the Thai-Cambodian border, ride some sort of government bus to a nearby Cambodian town, and then try to hitch a ride from there. Taxis are $45 to Siem Reap, but you can get rides from the locals (or even share a taxi with a few backpacking Euros) for about $5. We’ll obviously be going with the latter option.

Once we (fingers crossed) safely make it to Cambodia, we’ll spend 2-3 days in Siem Reap, where we’ll explore the many incredible Khmer temples, including Angkor Wat, the world’s largest and grandest religious complex. We’ll then jump on another public bus and head to Phnom Penh, where we’ll be volunteering until the end of August. And then it will finally be time to head home, where we'll gleefully take hot showers, wear non-gross clothes, and eat plenty of tacos, sandwiches, and pasta.

Lastly, we just want to thank everyone for their constant encouragement, prayers, and support. This is absolutely humbling to think about, but we were able to raise enough money to buy a house for some of the ladies who have graduated from the rehabilitation program we’ll be working with. Not only will that play a key role in giving these young ladies a second chance in life, but it is beautiful to think about the lasting legacy that house will have for generations. So, from the bottom of our heats and souls, we humbly thank you all.

PS-Please don't forget about us. :)

Thailand Adventure Day Eight - Wat This Way

2010-07-05T07:52:00.009-05:00

April 8, 2010 -- After waking up yesterday morning to the repeated yelling of little ladies selling food and drinks on the train, we soon got up, fixed our beds, and sat in our seats for the next three hours. Not this time. This morning, as other peeps in the train woke up and nosily packed up their beds, I protested this unnecessary early awakening and tried to sleep in my "bed." If given the choice of spending three hours wasting in a tiny “bed” or in a tiny chair, I’ll go with the former every single time.

And then it happened. I prayed that it wouldn’t, but it did.

I had to go to the bathroom. Like really go to the bathroom.

I had hoped I put this off for the fifteen hour train ride, but after all the last-night munching yesterday, no such luck. I was scared to death it would be a typical Southeast Asian squat pot, which would be an absolute disaster on a train (a similar situation in Vietnam left me soaking wet.) Fortunately, I was greeted by a seemingly-Western toilet, but instead of a system of tubes and plumbing, there was just a hole in the floor. So yea, never walk along any train tracks in Thailand.

We eventually got out of bed for good, allowed the worker to put those suckers away, and sat on the mind numbingly slow train for the next few hours. We eventually made it to Chiang Mai four hours later than scheduled. Thus, once again, taking a cheaper and more comfortable bus would have been a really good call. Once we arrived in Chiang Mai, we hopped in the back of a red pickup truck and made our way to the hotel. After all the traveling and cramped quarters of the past few days, we were both super sore and pretty much exhausted.

At our hotel, we found a nice family who owned the place, but no other guests. We unpacked our gear, chilled for a bit, and then set off to explore the overwhelming number of temples (wats) around the charming city of Chiang Mai. It seemed like there was a wat on every single corner, many of which were absolute stunning, but because of the incredible number of temples, most didn’t even make the city maps.

At one of the main wats in town, we found a monk graduation going down. At the front of the room, a few elders sat, one who slowly mumbled into a microphone. Meanwhile, hundreds of little boys, wearing orange tunics and rocking shaved heads, listened on. It was a very cool scene and we were fortunate to see this once-a-year event. On a side note, a dumb tourist was all up in the grills of a bunch of the boys taking pictures with his massive SLR. Serious party foul.

As we continued on our trek, I stopped to get a snowcone from a dude making these icy delights with a machine that looked like it belonged in the 19th Century. He didn’t speak English and so ordering was a bit tough. Unfortunately, I ended up with a bunch of ice drenched with Carnation Instant Breakfast and bubble gum flavoring. The thing was gorgeous, but too sweet for human consumption. We then bought the Thai version of orange Gatorade at a 7/11, which was also insanely sweet. We visited a few more wats, but on the brink of exhaustion, we went back to the hotel and took a massive nap. Not the best way to spend an afternoon in Thailand, but after the crazy schedule of the past few days and our ever-increasing stomach illnesses, it was a much-needed respite.

Once the sun set, we went out for the night and explored the unimaginably massive Night Bazaar. There were street vendors sprawled for miles, including a massive square full of little stands. Cheap food, cheesy shirts, tribal handicrafts, etc. After lots of exploring, we decided to eat at this “restaurant” of 5-6 tables that was set up in a small lot just off the street. It took forever to get our food and drinks (the cook was using a single wok for 20 or so people.) The pad thai was well-worth the lengthy wait and absolutely wonderful, but Howard’s soup was quite lackluster.

After dinner, we walked around a bit, but Howard seemed to be inching ever closer to his death bed and so he set off for the hotel, while I planned on exploring the city a bit more. Although I had given him the room key, I forgot to give him the key to unlock the big metal pull-down gate they put in front of the door at night. I’m actually glad about that memory lapse or I have no idea how I would have gotten in when I returned later that night. I hustled down the little alley by our hotel and eventually caught up with Howard and we called it a night. Although a little more exploring would have been good, with both of our stomachs decimated at that point, late-night exploring of a city full of squat pots would have been a bit stressful.

…and now for my favorite pictures from the day…
(oh, and since we're currently on our way to Cambodia, this will be the last Thailand Adventure post until September. Don't want to cause any confusion.)

The funny little dude who cooked our dinner in the middle of an alley...

Chiang Mai Night Bazaar

Gorgeous, but deadly...

Making the snowcone...

Monk graduation...

The "beds" on the Thai trains are not designed for 6'3" Americans...

The light at the end of the tunnel is the ground....

Thailand Adventure Day Seven - Rough Riders

2010-07-04T00:19:00.003-05:00

April 7, 2010 -- There are a lot of great places to wake up in Thailand. The dense jungle. The beautiful beaches. In a ritzy hotel in the middle of bustling Bangkok. On a Thai train, unfortunately, is not one of them.

Throughout the morning, as we slowly made the trek back to Bangkok, dozens of ladies would board the train at each stop, start hollering, and then walk through the cars selling all sorts of weird food (seriously, no one wants to eat fried chicken for breakfast.) We tried to sleep through all the noise, but we eventually gave up, folded up our bunks into seats (a pretty confusing act without any directions), and awaited our arrival in Bangkok.

And waited.

And waited.

Of course, the train was another two hours late and so we got into town nearly four hours later than we originally expected. We were literally crawling down the tracks at 10mph. We’d get to some God-forsaken stop in the middle of nowhere, wait for ten minutes, and then continue our slow trek to the capital city. We’d only be spending a few hours in Ayutthaya this afternoon and so it was a bit frustrating that we had already lost a bunch of time to the infinite inefficiency of the Thai train system.

We eventually got to Bangkok, where we found a train station swarming with people. The New Year’s holiday was about to kick off and so many of the city folks were fleeing to the beaches for a little R&R. We found out that most of the tickets to Ayutthaya were sold out, but we were able to get seats for a third class train that was leaving in about thirty minutes. Since we’d only eaten 7/11 snacks in the past 16 hours, we began the hunt for food. The food court in the station was a disaster and so we found a fun little place across the street. It was certainly chaotic and dirty, but the food was super good and super cheap. We loaded up on some water and boarded our trains.

As expected, I was the only white guy on the train. I was one of only two tourists, with Howard being the other. We rocked out in the un-air conditioned train with seats that made the hardest church pew feel like a fluffy mattress. After chowing down on some random jelly/juice stuff that a lady was selling in the car, we both repeatedly fell asleep as the train slowly churned towards the ancient city of Ayutthaya.

After a delay-free ninety minute trip, we made it to Ayutthaya. It was the middle of the afternoon and it amazingly hot. Gone were the refreshing shadows provided by the big buildings in Bangkok. We didn’t really have any set plans and so we decided to just wander around and explore the various temples and ruins for a few hours. We walked by a few places renting bicycles, boarded a river taxi, landed on the other side, and then began the lengthy walk around town. It wasn’t the most pleasant and exciting of days, due to the heat, tiredness, and seemingly-infinite walking, and we instantly regretted not renting those bicycles.

We spent the next few hours wandering around the city and we saw lots of semi-interesting ruins, temples, and various historical sites. We got to the main temple with about five seconds to spare (it was closing early because of the holiday) and we were only able to peek at the big Buddha statute for a brief second, which was especially tough because all the lights had already been turned off.

All the historical sites in town were certainly interesting to look at, but honestly, after going to Egypt last summer, they were a bit underwhelming. After seeing stunningly gorgeous Egyptian temples that date back to 3000 BC, 200ish year old crumbling and plain temples and palaces are a bit disappointing. The extreme heat and diarrhea also didn’t help. Alas, Ayutthaya is (supposedly) one of the “must see” sites during a trip to Thailand and so I’m glad we stopped by during our trip to Chiang Mai, but I’m SO happy we didn’t stay more than a few hours in this “ancient” town.

After a bit of exploring, we stopped at a nice restaurant (Siam) right by the main palace complex. It came highly recommended by my travel book and it had air conditioning and it seemed like a good place to kill a few hours. Unfortunately, since we were the only peeps there, the service was crazy quick and so that didn’t help us out too much. I also ordered the one meal in Thailand that I didn’t enjoy. In fact, it was terrible and I could only eat about 1/8th of it. I love curry and I love coconut. Thus, a coconut curry dish sounded quite divine. Alas, rather than a traditional curry (veggies, chicken, and sauce over rice), this was a soup full of sour coconut milk, fatty chicken, and lots of hard-as-rock veggies that I couldn’t even chew. So yea, that was a bummer.

We eventually made our way back to the river where we explored the markets a bit. Along the way, Howard bumped one of the many light bulbs that hang from the streets around Ayutthaya and that sucker exploded. A small, but humorous memory from our adventure. We got to the river, but it looked as though the last ferry to the other side of town had just left. Fortunately, the dock worker hollered at his friend and the ferry returned.

Since we still had lots of time to spare, and the host outside was crazy desperate, we ended up stopping at a little café a few blocks from the train station. I checked email for the first time in a few days and we then ordered a few smoothies. The owner was a strange Thai hippie and asked us all sorts of trivia questions (which we dominated.) I eventually got some fried rice, and well, it was the best I’ve ever had (barely better than the glorious stuff I got in a little shack along the Vietnam-China border.) And then the owner brought out all sorts of “brain teasers,” including the junk you see at Cracker Barrel that involves separating three rings from each other. Of course, we couldn’t figure any of them out. Another interesting side note is that the waiter at this little place was the only person who knew Howard was Filipino just by looking at him. Everyone else thought he was “Thai people,” but this dude instantly knew.

After dinner #2, we eventually made our way to the confusing train station. As we feared, we were greeted by another train delay. Alas, this time, it was 2+ hours. We thought.

We killed time by hanging around the train station, playing cards, and cleaning up in the bathroom. I eventually made my way outside and ordered a coconut smoothie. Unfortunately, it was insanely sweet and quite nasty. After another hour of adde delay, the train finally arrived. Three hours late. Nice!

Even worse, we were greeted by a much grosser train than the one we had slept on the night before. Even worse (again), those jokers left the lights on all night. Even worse (again), the fan above our bunks was d-e-a-d and so it was some sort of stuffy in that train. Even worse (last time), the bunks in this train were only 75% of the size of the ones on last night’s train. Thus, while I was pretty cramped last night, this night was spent sleeping in a bed that would probably fit in some cribs.

Alas, I wanted adventure and randomness and that is definitely what I got. But seriously, do not take the trains in Thailand. The buses are nicer, cheaper, and actually on-time.

…and now for my favorite pictures of the day…

Not what you want to see on a rough and shaky train...

Riding the third class locals' train from Bangkok to Ayutthaya...

Some of the endless ruins at Ayutthaya...