Musings of a barefoot traveller

And you think, just because it's happening somewhere else, in someone else's backyard, it doesn't really matter. It's just going to come back and bite you in the butt one day. Cambodia under the sandmen's spell Since Singapore was banned from mining sand in Indonesia, the city-state – which surface area covers less than 650 km2 – is struggling to find the sand it needs for its gigantic land reclamation and construction projects. As a result, it turned to a much less discriminating country, where the buying cost of sand remains quite inexpensive, Cambodia. For the last year, the provinces of Koh Kong and Kandal have seen a heavy traffic of boats, which sometimes arrive in dozens to dredge the seabed or dig along the coasts to collect as much sand as possible and export it to Singapore... Read the full article here .

Stomp was performing within driving distance, so A and I thought it might be a good idea to drive up to Raleigh to catch the show, and get a ride in the surrounding area pre-show. Sorta a belated V-day thingy, if you will. As he has already biked Crabtree and thought it to be okay, but not too great, we decided on Beaver Dam, which has trails of decent length, rated from beginner to intermediate. Plus it's free entry before March ($5/car otherwise). We were worried that it might rain all week, but Sunday dawned nice and sunny, cold (5-12 degC) but clear. The Outer and Inner Loops we did for a warm-up went rather smoothly, and my knee wasn't protesting too much from the strain I picked up a couple of weeks ago. A hearty lunch later, and we were raring to tackle the South Loop, all 7.3miles of it. Fell while trying to cross a log on an uphill which was off-camber, but just dusted off and rode on. Partway through the South Loop, we came across the entrance to the Drop Zone, which ...

Was searching for mollusc photos for my class powerpoint and came across this website on Etsy. Knitted invertebrates!! They are simply adorable!! The completed versions are really expensive but the patterns are pretty affordable. Anyone out there who knows how to knit??? Check them out! Cuttlefish OMG! A nudibranch!! With exposed gills! This is one of my faves- an angler-fish! Heehee

The dojo I train in will be holding an open house on Feb 21st. Finale is live blade cutting of bamboo mats. Should be exciting! http://gardenspringwind.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/aikido-and-iaido-open-house/

Flatworms Penis Fencing

View from my lab window at CMS

What's the point of enduring a 17 hour car ride down to "sunny" Florida to be met with chilly gusts and cold cold nights? Gah! No respite from the colder waters of winter when I'm blasted with frigid winds upon popping my head out of the water. And though I brought my Goretex (thank heavens), I sorely miss my fleece sweater, and maybe even fleece pants and a beanie. No pay-off at the end of two weeks of tolerance too. Back to frosty Wilmington and scraping ice off car windshields in the morning...Pffff... Well, I don't want to complain too much. Though it's gusty out, and there are white caps at Conch Reef, we have been getting our (cold) dives in, and getting work done. The vis at Conch has been pretty too, and I miss having my camera with me. I think I shan't fuss about the heat and humidity once I get to S'pore. Best to soak up all the warmth I can.

Yup ladies and laddies, today I bid goodbye to a tumultuous and eventful decade. and herald a new one. Though as I expected, it kinda feels just like any other ordinary day, like I should wake up, read (scientific) papers, and perhaps pop into the lab to measure coral skeletal linear extension in the afternoon. Something to ponder while I'm 50ft under at the Liberty wreck. Yeah, my little birthday present to myself. Crossing fingers for a shark sighting. Damn, what am I going to do without a camera???

Haven't done a food update for some time, probably due to a lack of a camera (away in S'pore, sniff), and the fact that the people I cook for have been inhaling the food faster than I can think about recording images, hehe. Anyway, I've been making pumpkin soup on and off for a few years now, but have always been strangely dissatisfied with the final outcome, thinking the soups lacking in depth. Today though, I think I got a winner :). Yay for blenders! Erm, it's a beautiful orange colour, but no photos due to no camera. Here's the recipe though: Ingredients: 1 butternut squash, skinned, seeded and cubed 5 small redskinned potatoes, cubed 1 medium white onion, cubed 1 cup canned chickpeas, drained Generous amount of black pepper Dash of dried thyme Dash of dried oregano Salt to taste 2 dashes of heavy cream 1 tbsp margarine For stock, I used ~1/3 cup leftover chicken stock and 2 chicken breastbones + 1 mug water. If possible, use good stock or make your own! Method:...

Being frustrated with the way my unit trusts are going and the rather dismal interest rates available (though still better than the ones in S'pore), decided to take the plunge and buy a tiny tiny minuscule stake in Apple computers! Haha. Why Apple? At least I use the brand and I'm interested in their bloody fortunes, don't really have the time and interest to check out the portfolios of xx unknown companies just to invest my savings in. As of today, my shares would earn me $100 if I sell now. Exciting I know :). Should I hold? Hehehe...Is it considered bad luck to talk about the fortunes of my stock holdings on the internet? Who knows. In other news, it seems that I can't keep advocacy out of my life, despite moving to another country, heck, a whole new continent! Attended a public meeting yesterday about improving a major road artery in Wilmington and lobbied for bike lanes along the road. Will talk more once the plans are out!

After many years of coming in dead last, or at the very best, second to last, I finally won a MTB race, hehehe! Too bad there was only 2 persons in my category...oh poo...can't always have everything. Briefly considered the Beginner's Women category, but 2 laps unprepared is a bit of a torture :). Well, the organisers were kind enough to give us both prizes for competing, and picked up a sweet pair of Schwalbe road tires (though edged with pink...but I can deal with that). A came in first in his category, and more impressively for him, he actually beat more than one other person. Probably at least 16 other guys. Also won a pair of downhill goggles in the raffle, which made me briefly consider getting into the whole downhill scene...Nah...Rode my little heart out yesterday, so am rather content, but now I have mountain bikes riding through all the convolutions of my brain!

I think it's the clipless system after all. Fell off a log pile on BC's inner loop today, which should have just resulted in a couple more bruises and contusions, but rather unfortunately landed on a stake, plus broke off a bamboo-ish plant on the way down, resulting in another fixed vertical object with a pointy end. For a small-ish scrape on my left flank, the pain is amazing. Was so blinded by pain I literally lay on the ground for a few minutes, squeezing tears from my eyes. Plus try as I may, I couldn't unclip my right foot and had to reach over my bike to remove my shoe. Just then, a couple of bikers came across me and lifted the bike off me so I could sit up. They made me promise I was going to be ok before they took off again, which was rather sweet. After some patch up work courtesy of A and Greg's 1st aid kit, hit the Juvenile Detention side again, but man, the sting of perspiration running into the scrape was killing me. So rather than bike to work today, wri...

"The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community." -Ann Strong, Minneapolis Tribune, 1895 Bicycles are on my mind a lot these days. Can you tell?

It wasn't a very productive day today, work-wise. My favourite season of the year is upon us here, and the slight nip in the air makes me yearn for open spaces, tree canopies and singletracks. So I took A's Trek Fuel (thanks A!) out to Blue Clay today. Felt tremendous to spin hard on the trails, slog up the hills, scoot downhill without skidding for once and barrel my way around the corners and berms. Threw caution to the wind today and tried to maintain an average speed of 8-10mph. Surprisingly enough, I didn't even fall off the bike today, and cleared all the log piles that have been causing me much pain and contusions the last couple of weeks. Maybe it's because I wasn't wearing clipless shoes today, being too lazy to swap out pedals. Maybe I should just relax more, enjoy myself more and give myself more credit on the trails! Sunday seems far away...

According to the molluskan zodiac anyway. My advice for the week is not to let the bastards grind me down. Or avoid moon snails possibly...

Was caught out in the dark tonight, staying later than I thought I would. Speeding home with a borrowed rearlight for the bicycle and straining to see potholes and rough spots on the ground while clutching my bars tightly everytime a car whizzed by (almost went headlong into another cyclist who was going against traffic on the shoulder with no lights as well), was relieved to finally roll into my driveway. No sooner have I taken off my socks and set my foot down in the garage, did I impale my heel on a piece of wire. Cursing and hopping with pain in the half light, managed to pull something out of my foot, thankfully nothing barbed. Lesson? Never assume the day will go according to plan, and my lights go into the backpack tomorrow. A head full of roiling thoughts lead to nothing but injuries and trouble. Not much I can do about that though.

Just returned from a rather..ahem...eventful field trip from Bocas del Toro, Panama. So was rather relieved to be home in familiar and comfortable surroundings. A was starting to tell me a funny story about the evening he spent with friends, who asked about my tshirt size, only to get a response from him that I'm one size up from him... "Wait, wait, wait...you told them I'm a MEDIUM??? I'm a SMALL! I wear the same size as you!!!" I don't even need to squeeze into a small! Arrrr.....(chews head off)...

My Powerbook screen is on the blink, causing me no small amount of anguish. In the meantime, I've hooked up the laptop to Tim's monitor and am in the process of transferring all my files to the external drive. Currently in a quandary- should I get a new MacBook, given that I have an educational discount and will get a free iPod touch (by Sept 15th) and printer that I can sell off to get a further discount, or 2), buy a $5 monitor and use this laptop as a desktop at home, plus switch to using a WinDoze machine in the lab for the next few years?? There's a laptop in the lab I can use for field trips too, but it's also a dozy machine, sigh.