Sunday, 29 January 2006

Monkey Bench

San Francisco really reminds me of Melbourne in a lot of ways. There's cool street art and dope sculptures all over the place, like this one that we came across in Chinatown yesterday:

Posted by flow Frazao on January 29, 2006 at 02:38 PM in America | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Key Principles of Microfinance

The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) is a consortium of 31 public and private development agencies working together to expand access to financial services for the poor, referred to as microfinance. These principles were developed and endorsed by CGAP and its 31 member donors, and further endorsed by the Group of Eight leaders at the G8 Summit on 10 June 2004 (Sea Island, Georgia, USA).

1. Poor people need a variety of financial services, not just loans. In addition to credit, they want savings, insurance, and money transfer services.
2. Microfinance is a powerful tool to fight poverty. Poor households use financial services to raise income, build their assets, and cushion themselves against external shocks.
3. Microfinance means building financial systems that serve the poor. Microfinance will reach its full potential only if it is integrated into a country’s mainstream financial system.
4. Microfinance can pay for itself, and must do so if it is to reach very large numbers of poor people. Unless microfinance providers charge enough to cover their costs, they will always be limited by the scarce and uncertain supply of subsidies from governments and donors.
5. Microfinance is about building permanent local financial institutions that can attract domestic deposits, recycle them into loans, and provide other financial services.
6. Microcredit is not always the answer. Other kinds of support may work better for people who are so destitute that they are without income or means of repayment.
7. Interest rate ceilings hurt poor people by making it harder for them to get credit. Making many small loans costs more than making a few large ones. Interest rate ceilings prevent microfinance institutions from covering their costs, and thereby choke off the supply of credit for poor people.
8. The job of government is to enable financial services, not to provide them directly. Governments can almost never do a good job of lending, but they can set a supporting policy environment.
9. Donor funds should complement private capital, not compete with it. Donor subsides should be temporary start-up support designed to get an institution to the point where it can tap private funding sources, such as deposits.
10. The key bottleneck is the shortage of strong institutions and managers. Donors should focus their support on building capacity.
11. Microfinance works best when it measures—and discloses—its performance. Reporting not only helps stakeholders judge costs and benefits, but it also improves performance. MFIs need to produce accurate and comparable reporting on financial perfomance (e.g., loan repayment and cost recovery) as well as social performance (e.g., number and poverty level of clients being served).

Posted by flow Frazao on January 29, 2006 at 12:34 PM in Microfinancing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Weird Earls (now with visual aids!)

• SuperSizedMeals.com is a blog documenting "foodstuffs of epic proportions". Don't miss the saga of the 100x100 In-n-Out burger. Total calories: 19490





• Proposal: Brad Pitt adapts his appearance to that of whoever he's dating at the time, kind of like how dogs start to look like their owners.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 29, 2006 at 03:25 AM in Weird Earls | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Saturday, 28 January 2006

San Francisco - America's Vaccination Destination

After waking up at 5AM and sitting on a plane for 8 hours, we hopped on the subway and headed into the middle of the city for the San Francisco Dept. of Public Health. As I mentioned earlier, the price of vaccinations here are about half the cost compared to Connecticut. And it's a damn good thing, because between Fiona and I we wound up dropping almost $1200 on shots yesterday.

The bad news, of course, was that it cost a shitload of money. The good news is that I have a much better chance of not dying of the following diseases:

• Meningococcal Disease - This one is some scary shit. The juice was precious at $110, but after I read this I was all sweaty and pretty much stopped worrying about money:
  

  Meningococcal disease is an acute bacterial disease characterized by sudden onset with fever; intense headache; nausea and often vomiting; stiff neck; and, frequently, a petechial rash with pink macules. Formerly, the case-fatality ratio exceeded 50%, but early diagnosis, modern therapy, and supportive measures have lowered the case-fatality ratio to about 10%.



• Polio - Maybe I'm naive or something, but I was under the impression this had been taken care of. I seem to remember hearing how through the "miracle of modern medicine" mankind had wiped out Polio. Apparently, this is not the case. Polio, it seems, has reached epic proportions in Africa. And that's fucked up because the shot only cost $44 and you know that includes the standard 500% markup on all pharmaceuticals sold in America.
• Tetanus/Diptheria - At the bargain basement price of $28, how could I say no?
• Hepatitis A & B - These vaccinations are actually administered over the course of six months. Luckily, Fiona talked me into starting the tract back when we were in Bangkok, so I got my third and final booster yesterday.
• Typhoid - This one comes in oral form, so I didn't need a shot for it, which was fine with me. Three in each arm was enough, thanks.
• Yellow Fever - This is the big bad mama jama of exotic tropical diseases. The one where they won't let you in to the country if you don't have the International Certificate of Vaccination for Yellow Fever.
• Rabies - I got the first of three rabies exposure shots yesterday, and at the price of $182 per shot I'd be lying if I said I didn't hesitate. I was on the fence - I mean, when's the last time you got bit by an animal - until the nurse started explaining the options. If you get bit after you've been vaccinated, then the treatment is two booster shots which are widely available even in third world countries. However, if you haven't been vaccinated then you need to get a different kind of injection made from human product which is not widely available and would require evacuation to South Africa. And what kind of psycho would inject himself with blood from THAT population? You'd probably be better of with the rabies.

Luckily, Fiona had already been vaccinated against most of the aforementioned stuff so we saved some money there. Apparently it's a "good idea" to get shots before you go to Southeast Asia. Not being one for "good ideas" I had to stock up yesterday. Fiona, on the other hand, had a different issue to deal with.

Five years ago she was in India and she started playing around with a monkey. To make a long story short, the thing bit her and (having had the pre-exposure) she went to a clinic to get the widely available booster. The Indian doctor was not, um, well-informed, so he gave her the wrong fucking shot. Not only did Fiona get a shot of human product in India which was neither effective, nor, shall we say, the best idea, but apparently the doctor also had trouble opening the vial and wound up shattering the glass before he drew it into the syringe.

Basically, Fiona allowed some Indian quack to inject her full of broken glass and third-world country juice. Which was pretty funny considering the grilling she gave the nurse in San Francisco about "how do you know the meningococcal vaccine is safe".

The effect of this episode was Fiona sitting in the Department of Public Health with a gaggle of nurses around trying to decide whether or not my wife has rabies. After a call to the guy who's currently rewriting the CDC guidelines for rabies, they decided that she should get the two booster shots ($182 each) just to be on the safe side.

And that's pretty much that. Right now my shoulders are sore as hell, but I'm told that will pass after a few days. Of course, for those of you out there who like to have things to worry about there's also a .001% chance I could die of Yellow Fever by next Thursday.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 28, 2006 at 12:58 PM in Africa, Little Stories, Me, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Iraq and Wire-tapping

Who would've thought that the Iraqis would wind up with more freedom than Americans (at least on paper):

"The freedom of communication, and mail, telegraphic, electronic, and telephonic correspondence, and other correspondence shall be guaranteed and may not be monitored, wiretapped or disclosed except for legal and security necessity and by a judicial decision."

Posted by flow Frazao on January 28, 2006 at 11:38 AM in America, Iraq, Scary Bush | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 27 January 2006

Off to San Francisco

We're all packed up and ready to go. Our flight leaves tomorrow at 7AM(!) so it's going to be a long day. We land in Oakland at 1PM and then we head straight for the SF Immunization clinic where we'll be getting all our shots for Africa. For some strange reason it's half the price in California as it is in Connecticut. I guess that's what you get for living in the richest state in the Union (in your FACE New Jersey).

I'm pretty excited to finally meet the people I've been corresponding with for so many months. I've been doing so much research and thinking about microfinancing, Kiva, and VEF that I don't know what it'll be like to actually meet people who've been doing the things I've been reading about. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous, too. I suppose I just have no idea what to expect, and that makes for some anxious daydreaming. I can see it now - we sit down with Matt, Jessica and Brian for the first time and they're like "Muhammad Yunus? Oh my God that guy's like the biggest douchebag ever!"

Anyway, I really wish I could write more, but it's late and as I said I have to be up early. I'll try to post regular updates while we're kicking it West Coast style but, as always, no promises.

PS - If you're extra-bored at work and you're hungry for a blast from the past, here are some old 2004 pics from a previous trip to San Francisco:

Posted by flow Frazao on January 27, 2006 at 12:31 AM in Me | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 26 January 2006

The World's First Solar Hearing Aid

Here's an excellent example of African ingenuity. Godisa Technologies, a Botswana-based company, has invented the world's only Solar Powered Hearing Aid. In the developing world, getting access to a power point for recharging or a store that sells those tiny hearing aid batteries is not always feasible, so why not just use the sun?

In 1992 the Solar Aid Workshop was started in collaboration with the Botswana Technology Centre to manufacture solar rechargeable hearing aids that could be used by hearing-impaired people living in Africa and other parts of the developing world. Recently Solar Aid changed its name to Godisa in line with the broadening of its product base. Godisa means to do something that is helping others to grow. Its objective is to develop practical technologies for developing countries and to create employment and training opportunities for hearing disabled people.

We manufacture three hearing aids; these use regular zinc air or rechargeable batteries. We've developed a solar power battery recharger and the first No. 13 and low-cost No. 675 rechargable button-cell batteries. The latter can be charged up to 300 times over its two-year lifespan and sells for less than US$1.50.

We meet our mission of lowering the cost of hearing aids and maintenance for everyone.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 26, 2006 at 09:55 PM in Africa, Cool Stuff, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I've Been to Hell I Spell It, I Spell It D-M-V

I'm sitting here at the DMV waiting for Fiona to finish her driver's test (she's finally going for a US license), and I'm really enjoying the show. As I look around I see a very diverse group of people, and I would bet that these particular people will never be in the same room again. This is a shame - just imagine what spirited conversations could transpire between the obese Arab to my left and the mulletudinous meth-head to my right. Not that I'm going to invite them back to my house or anything. I'm just saying.

Fiona just finished her written test and she's in a state of disbelief as to how easy it was compared to its Australian counterpart. I tried explaining that while in Australia driving might be considered a privilege, here in the US it's a basic human right. Judging by her scoff, I can only assume she hates freedom. I'll be reporting her for reeducation when we get home.

Update: I'm pleased to report that Fiona passed her exam! She now sports a classy Connecticut driver's license with a sweeeeet hologram that you're all so jealous of. Yeah you wish you were from Connecticut, punk.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 26, 2006 at 06:03 PM in America, Little Stories, Me | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

From the Dept. of Irony

Bush Says No To Hamas:

"President Bush, in an Oval Office interview, declared that he isn't ready yet to deal with the radical Palestinian Islamist group Hamas no matter how well it does in Wednesday's Palestinian elections. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal as Palestinians were electing a new parliament, Bush lauded the Middle Eastern trend toward democracy that produced Palestinian elections, but he said that Hamas isn't a suitable partner for diplomacy until it renounces its position calling for the destruction of Israel. 'A political party, in order to be viable, is one that professes peace, in my judgment, in order that it will keep the peace,' the president said.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 26, 2006 at 06:03 PM in Current Affairs, Scary Bush, World News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Kiva in the News

It's been a big couple of weeks for Kiva. Recently, Kiva appeared in the Wall Street Journal and on an interview for the BBC (link via Kiva founder Matt Flannery's blog). This week I've so far seen the following links:

• Kiva: Become a Micro Venture Capitalist (Star Article, UK)
• Be an global financier...on a shoestring (CNN)

The CNN article is really interesting. It's the first mainstream news article I've seen to really delve into the full potential that Kiva offers:

If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.

Thanks to www.Kiva.org, a California-based Web site that connects lenders and borrowers from around the world, anyone can scan business proposals, photos and background information on potential borrowers and decide if the gambit's got legs.

The concept of letting individual, small-time, lenders pick and choose which projects to fund is new in microfinance -- the field of providing very small loans to start-up businesses, usually in the developing world. In the past the industry has been dominated by a handful of large non-profits that operate on grant money or raise cash in capital markets and then distribute as they see fit.

Although Kiva has been operating for just over two months and has served just 50 borrowers so far, all in eastern Africa, co-founder Matthew Flannery said there has been a large amount of interest in the site.

"I sit in front of a tidal wave of money," said Flannery, saying that the number of lenders far exceeds the number of people they can find to borrow the cash. "Businesses are funded in the same day that they're posted."

If the eBay site ever gets off the ground, it would be huge. Hopefully we're looking at the beginning of a whole new system of decentralized international aid and foreign development. Exciting stuff, to say the least.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 26, 2006 at 11:31 AM in Kiva/VEF | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

U.N. Lends Backing to the $100 Laptop

The sub-$100 laptop - yet another great invention from the nerds at MIT. Of course, my own personal opinion is that before we get started on the One Laptop Per Child program we might want to finish up the whole One Meal Per Child Per Day initiative, but what do I know:

The United Nations on Thursday lent its support to a project which aims to ship inexpensive, hand-cranked laptops to school-aged children worldwide.

Kemal Dervis, head of the U.N. Development Program, will sign a memorandum of understanding Saturday with Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of One Laptop per Child, on the $100 laptop project, at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting.

The program aims to ship 1 million units by the end of next year to sell to governments at cost for distribution to school children and teachers.

UNDP will work with Negroponte's organization to deliver "technology and resources to targeted schools in the least developed countries," the U.N. agency said in a statement.

Negroponte wants to start shipping the cheap laptop, which is to have wireless network access and a hand-crank to provide electricity, later this year. The aim is to have governments or donors buy them and give full ownership to the children.

Negroponte, who is also chairman of the MIT Media Lab, has said he expects to sell 1 million of them to Brazil, Thailand, Egypt and Nigeria.

The laptop is expected to run on an open-source operating system, such as Linux.

The devices will be lime green in color, with a yellow hand crank, to make them appealing to children and, so the thinking goes, to fend off potential thieves.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 26, 2006 at 11:10 AM in Cool Stuff, Microfinancing, Web/Tech, World News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 25 January 2006

Dental Hell

I'm not sure if this is obvious to people, but if you're going to do any kind of traveling in the third world one of the most important things you can do is take care of your teeth. I've been very lucky, but I can tell you that I've heard some horror stories about people who've had to visit dentists in Central America, and I can only imagine what a tooth extraction would be like in, say, Cambodia.

I usually schedule a routine checkup and cleaning before I head out. I've been lucky in the past because I've always had dental insurance, but this time I'm one of the 45 million uninsured Americans who's got to pony up for his medical care. So I opened up the good ol yellow pages and let my fingers do the walking.

After a few phone calls, it became apparent that I was going to be spending at least $100 for a simple cleaning and a 10 minute consultation with a dentist. Being a cheap bastard, I figured I'd shop around to get the lowest possible price.

I think you probably know where this is going.

Eventually, I found a newspaper ad for a $99 cleaning, dentist consultation, and complete set of X-rays. Somehow, this seemed like a good idea at the time. Now that I'm thinking about it, I should have probably been alarmed when they told me they had a few open appointments that day and could take my pick. Alas, I am a fool.

I went in at 3:30 and filled out all the paperwork. I explained to the woman behind the desk that I was leaving for an extended trip to Africa and I just wanted to make sure I didn't have any nasty surprises. She was very understanding and when I gave her the 30 second schtick on Kiva she was really into it.

After a few minutes spent reading US Weekly (K-Fed is such a pussy), the dentist called me in and I followed her to one of the stations. With a thick Russian accent, the Humpty-Dumpty shaped dentist asked me about any pain I'd been having, if I smoked, etc. After an brief exchange of pleasantries, she instructed me to lean back and open my mouth.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her grab a pointy silver tool with a hook on the end. She took this utensil and began to stab me repeatedly in the mouth. Within seconds I could taste the blood.

My mouth was literally exploding with pain every time she jabbed me. As I sit here typing this, I can still feel my gums throbbing. The amazing thing is that I just sat there taking it. Isn't it ridiculous how you lull yourself into a false sense of security just by thinking "Well this person is a professional. She must know what she's doing." I find myself thinking the same thing in New York City taxis as they drive 90 down Broadway on the wrong side of the yellow line. But I digress.

So there she is, poking the shit out of my mouth and making these "Mmm hmm" sounds. Eventually she hands me a mirror and says, "I want you to see what I'm doing here."

Preparing for a scene out of Saw II, I slowly bring the mirror up to my face and I'm greeted with a mouthful of teeth that are redder than Bill Clinton at a cigar convention.

"See," she says as she drives the little sword in between two molars, "You bleed every time I poke you. I'm sorry to tell you this but you have gum disease."

"You stupid bitch," I said, "If I took out my Leatherman and stabbed you in the face you'd bleed like a stuck pig, but that doesn't mean you have face disease does it?"

Yeah right I said that. No, I just sat there and nodded, dumbfounded by a mixture of pain, disbelief, and shock at the fact that I'd just been diagnosed with a disease. I mean, I'm not saying I'm Dr. Teeth or anything, but I practice pretty good dental hygiene. I brush twice a day and floss maybe once a week (yeah, yeah, I know I should do it every day). My point, however, is that while my teeth may not be perfect it's not like they look like this.

Humpty-Dumpski DDS went on to tell me that her "professional diagnosis" was that I have middle stage periodontal disease. Her recommendation was that I come in for four separate treatments where they would do a periodontal scrape of a quarter of my mouth each time. Each visit would cost $210 for a grand total of $840 by the time she was done. Then she showed me my X-rays and told me some story about my jaw bone receding or something.

Of course, my immediate inclination was to go home and get on WebMD to find out exactly how full of shit this woman was. After spending about 20 minutes talking about various payment plans she offered I managed to politely extricate myself and my shredded gums from her office and we headed home to do some research.

Needless to say, I don't think I have periodontal disease. Maybe a little gingivitis, but nothing a little floss and some listerine won't fix. However, I have learned a valuable lesson from this experience, and that is this:

Posted by flow Frazao on January 25, 2006 at 09:28 PM in Little Stories, Me | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 24 January 2006

Lo Siento Muy Mucho

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I've been all kinds of busy lately trying to get everything in order in preparation for the next few months. I'm really going to do my best to resume regular updates tomorrow. Until then, please stop emailing me asking if everything's fine. If you don't hear from me by, say, Friday, assume I've been kidnapped by Scarlott Johansson and I've been forced into white slavery. Please, do not rescue me no matter what you hear.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 24, 2006 at 01:04 AM in TTSU Maintenance | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 15 January 2006

Stop Me If You've Heard This One

I'm not usually into this type of thing, but this really has got to be the best blonde joke ever.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 15, 2006 at 09:35 PM in Culture, Weird Earls | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Few More Snow Pictures

It snowed again today, so I decided to take my new lens out for a spin. I got some pretty good shots, and I also managed to change lenses a few times in the freezing cold with numb fingers. My idea was that if I could do it in the middle of a New England winter without being able to feel my fingers, then switching lenses under pressure in Africa would be no problem. Now that I'm thinking about it, it's a pretty stupid idea but what can I say? It was really cold out there, and it's tough to think straight when your eyelids are freezing shut.

(click for more snowy goodness)

Posted by flow Frazao on January 15, 2006 at 05:32 PM in America, Photos | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Apple-Related Geek News

A few interesting articles I've come across this morning on Apple:

Apple Is Bigger Than Dell

"Apple's value is now greater than Dell's. Of course, even more exciting is that the trajectory of our favourite company is clearly on the rise, while Dell seems poised to merely continue in its sideways trend."

Signs Point To Apple Cellular Company

Pointing at the latest trademark applications for "Mobile Me" and the abandonment by Motorola, the article concludes, "Getting into the cellular services business is easier these days, thanks to the likes of Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Cingular, and their support for Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO). An MVNO is a company that leases bandwidth, infrastructure, and time from a carrier and then rebrands and resells it. The best-known MVNO in the US is arguably Virgin Mobile, which also operates on Sprint's network."

In-Depth Intel Switch Docs

Apple Developer Connection has opened a new section on their site, the Developer Transition Resource Center. It contains links to Universal Binary Programming Guidelines, and information about the Intel Core Duo chips. Of particular note to those who troubleshoot Macs and can't go without their trusty firewire diagnostic tools, is information on disk partitions: "The standard disk partition format on an Intel-based Macintosh computer differs from the disk partition format of a PowerPC-based Macintosh computer. By default, internal hard drives on Intel-based Macintosh computers use the GUID Partition Table (GPT) scheme and external drives use the Apple Partition Map (APM) partition scheme. To create an external USB or FireWire disk that can boot an Intel-based Macintosh computer, select the GPT disk partition scheme option using Apple Disk Utility." Looks like that FireWire drive I carry around is going to need to have separate partitions on it now. And what do these APM and GPT changes mean for things like Spotlight Metadata? It's going to be an interesting, that's for sure.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 15, 2006 at 11:47 AM in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 12 January 2006

Problems vs. Solutions

"The heart of the matter, as I see it, is the stark fact that world poverty is primarily a problem of two million villages, and thus a problem of two thousand million villagers. The solution cannot be found in the cities of the poor countries. Unless the hinterland can be made tolerable, the problem of world poverty is intolerable, and inevitably will get worse."

-- E.F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful

If there's one thing I learned during my years of consulting, it's that too much knowledge is a terrible thing. I couldn't possibly begin to count the number of projects I was on that had worked themselves into a state of "analysis paralysis". That is, they'd spent so much time thinking about the question that their brains froze up whenever they tried to think of an answer.

Sometimes you have to jump in with both feet and just start slogging away. Granted, you fuck up left and right, but as long as you don't keep screwing up the same thing in the same way you inevitably work your way towards a solution. It's not always the most elegant one, and it's usually not the one that will win you any industry awards, but it gets the job done. In my experience, I've generally found that the best time to solve these problems is while the talkers are talking.

Of course, as I soon as I solved a problem for a client they would immediately switch from talking about how complicated the issue was to talking about how smart they were for having fixed it. Not that it made any difference to me - as a consultant I was already out the door. But it just goes to show that you don't need to know much about a problem to solve it. You just have to be willing to bang your head against a wall for a while and hope your brain is big enough to knock it down.

"There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there."

-- Indira Gandhi

Posted by flow Frazao on January 12, 2006 at 11:39 PM in Little Stories, Me, Microfinancing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Kiva Presentation at Hall High School

Fiona and I did our presentation on microfinancing today at my former high school. It went really well, especially considering we had to do our talk at 7:30 AM.

The Human Rights class we spoke to was mostly seniors, and they were a good group of kids. I was curious to hear what a bunch of suburban teenagers would think of microfinancing in general, and Kiva in particular. Most of them seemed pretty into the idea of loans as opposed to charity and I sensed a buzz when I explained how Kiva uses the internet to connect lenders with Africans. I think this is definitely a project that appeals to younger minds, and it appears that younger minds agree.

There were a couple of kids in the class who stood out. One of the students looked to be of Central or South American descent, and he was able to bring some personal experience to the conversation. He made a few comments about growing up in poverty and he said that even though his family and the people around him didn't have any money that didn't mean they didn't have ideas about how to get out of poverty. I would have like to've heard more from him, but we only had about 40 minutes and there just wasn't enough time.

Another kid was an extreme leftist kind of guy who was all about money being the root of all evil. To be honest, he reminded me of myself minus twelve years. He was very vocal (which was great) and he expressed a lot of skepticism that microfinancing could work, because in the end, he feared that entire villages would just wind up owing unpayable debts. Having him in the discussion was really cool because his statements needled some of the other students into speaking up. The only thing that would have been better would have been if there were a far-right counterpart saying that poor people should be responsible for themselves and not expect handouts, yadda yadda. For better or for worse, 17 year-olds with those views are pretty hard to come by, so we had to make due without hearing from the No Spin Zone.

The whole thing was a lot of fun. I think the students got a lot out of it - one girl came up to Fiona and I afterwards and said it was the best class she'd ever had. It was also a great opportunity for Fi and I to practice our schtick in front of a captive audience. One thing that was excellent was that we were able to do the whole presentation without talking over each other (a major accomplishment), and another was that we were able to use a lot of the classroom management techniques we learned when we did our ESL certification in Bangkok last year.

Finally, on the way out we spoke to a former teacher of mine who will be doing the Human Rights class next semester. Apparently, the class is structured such that each student is required to do a "social activism project". We didn't get into details, but we're both hoping that we'll be able to come up with a way to get some of the students involved with what we'll be doing in East Africa over the coming months. I'm really excited about it - it'll add a whole other dimension on to what will already be an extroardinarily cool experience.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 12, 2006 at 10:54 PM in Kiva/VEF | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Food for the Ears

Some stuff I've been listening to that's worth mentioning:

• The Beastles - dj BC presents The Beatles vs. The Beastie Boys (follow link for mp3s)
• Live From Iraq - 4th25

  It took only a few ambushes, roadside bombs and corpses for Neal Saunders to know what he had to do: turn the streets of Baghdad into rap music. So the First Cavalry sergeant, then newly arrived for a year of duty in Sadr City, began hoarding his monthly paychecks and seeking out a U.S. supplier willing to ship a keyboard, digital mixer, cable, microphones and headphones to an overseas military address. He hammered together a plywood shack, tacked up some cheap mattress pads for soundproofing and invited other Task Force 112 members to join him in his jerry-built studio. They call themselves "4th25"—pronounced fourth quarter, like the final do-or-die minutes of a game—and their album is "Live From Iraq." The sound may be raw, even by rap standards, but it expresses things that soldiers usually keep bottled up. "You can't call home and tell your mom your door got blown off by an IED," says Saunders. "No one talks about what we're going through. Sure, there are generals on the TV, but they're not speaking for us. We're venting for everybody."

  
  Watch their video here, if you can stand it. Not a film clip for the meek, which is why it probably won't get much play on MTV. And that's a shame, because these guys are to Iraq what Jimi Hendrix was to Vietnam.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 12, 2006 at 10:19 PM in Culture, Iraq, Music, War on Terra | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Indian Call Centers and Ugly Americans

An interesting article on the cultural impact of call-center outsourcing from the Indian perspective. Short summary - Americans don't paint a pretty picture of themselves over the phone:

Saurabh Jha, a blue-jeaned 22-year-old, said a Texas woman phoned recently and told him that thanks to outsourcing, "you are getting money, food, shelter. You should be starving."

She berated him for 12 minutes before she allowed him to offer advice that fixed her problem: to unplug her computer and plug it back in. "I was speechless," he said. "She didn't even give me a chance."

As far as I can tell, Americans do a lot of complaining about outsourcing when it's in the context of things like this. However, it's these same people who are lining up and shooting each other at 5 AM in front of the local Wal-Mart when it comes to getting rock-bottom prices on huge piles of imported shit.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 12, 2006 at 04:49 PM in America, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Weird Earls

• An absolutely amazing photo of a victim of Holoprosencephaly
• Flying anywhere this year? If so, get yo travel on wif GhettoDelta. Bitchez be flyin like a muthafucka. (thx to Josh for the link)
• Only 24 percent of Americans think being overweight is unattractive. In other news, 76 percent of US population is now considered morbidly obese.
• Researchers say recordable CDs have a maximum lifetime of 5 years. And you all laughed when I bought stock in Cuneiform Tablets, Inc. Who's the tech visionary now?
• Black Sergeant was 'Loyal Klansman'

  About 25 years ago, Ron Stallworth was asked to lead the Ku Klux Klan chapter in Colorado Springs. Problem was, the outgoing Klan leader didn't know that Stallworth is black.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 12, 2006 at 04:29 PM in Weird Earls | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 10 January 2006

First Day of Substitute Teaching

7:30 AM - Writing B102
Today is my first day of substitute teaching. I'm working at Hall High School, which is where I graduated from in 1994. It's pretty strange being back, mainly because it hasn't changed at all. There are still couples making out in the same dark corners, and still huge groups of kids congregating in front of the gym. The main difference is that now they all have iPods instead of Walkmen.

Another thing I notice as I look around is that every single student has a 16 ounce bottle of Poland Spring water. Is this standard issue now? I wonder if you get in trouble should you be caught without your water bottle. It's strange - when I was here you weren't allowed to drink anything in class. I seem to remember some kind of fear that kids would be swigging vodka or something.

Right now I'm sitting in my first class. It's an English class - Writing, I think. Following the script that was sitting on the teacher's desk, I told the kids that they're supposed to work on a thesis statement and have their introductions done by the end of the period. I don't have a clue what they're introducing, nor do I care. Pretty much the only other thing I said to them is that it's way too early for any of us to be awake (7:30 AM), so as long as they're quiet I not much else matters.

Amazingly, I haven't had to say a single word since class started. Every single one of these kids is working. Part of me wants to yell at them "Hey, you! Misbehave!! What do you think this is? Some kind of cubicle job?"

9:25 AM - English 10 (Standard)
This is my third period of the day. Second period was English 10 (Honors) and there's a big difference between honors and standard. The teacher left me the following note:

"Give students a brief talk about behaving properly and tell them that there will be punishment if you leave me a poor report."

The honors kids were quiet and well behaved, and the standard kids are loud and funny. I gave both groups the exact same directions and the honors class did exactly as they were told. The standard kids, however, got the directions, read through the handout and told me I had to assign each group a question from the list of five.

Naturally, I said "Does it really matter? Just pick one and do it." One girl quickly piped up and told me that in fact it DID matter because of something having to do with the way the class was being taught. So I assigned them each a question. No skin off my back.

Eventually, one of the kids asked my name. Without thinking, I responded "Jeremy". The girl laughed and said, "No, we can't call you Jeremy we have to call you Mr. Whatever." I told her my last name and then she asked me some question about Catcher In the Rye about Holden's relationship with Phoebe.

I told her that it had been a long time since I'd read that book and I had forgotten that Phoebe was a character, much less how she's different from Selma Thurner. Then I mentioned that the only thing I remembered was that aside from a revolver and a signed Double Fantasy album, a dog-eared copy of Catcher In the Rye was the only other thing Mark David Chapman was carrying when he shot John Lennon. Apparently, the teacher skipped over that little factoid.

Another interesting distinction between the honors class and the standard class is that almost all of the honors kids seemed to be members of the Cult of the White Earbuds. I would conservatively estimate that around 75% of the students in the advanced class had iPods. However, in the standard class it seemed like only a handful had them. There were significantly more CD Players than MP3 players, and it makes me wonder how much socioeconomic standing factors into academic placement. Quite a lot, I would guess.

Study Hall
They played hangman almost the whole time. But it was boring because the only thing they could think of were TV shows and movies. A few of the mystery words were:

• Baywatch


• The Brothers Grimm


• The Godfather

Posted by flow Frazao on January 10, 2006 at 11:56 PM in Little Stories, Me | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Kiva Presentation at Hall High School

After substituting at Hall today, I stopped by the social studies department to see one of my old teachers. We got to talking, and when I told her Fiona and I were going to Africa she got really excited and started telling me about this new class she'll be teaching next semester on Human Rights.

Obviously, I think it's fantastic that they're addressing these kinds of topics at the high school level so I offered to help out in any way I could. I told her that if she has any ideas for a project I'd be up for it.

Well, one thing led to another and Fiona and I are going to be doing a talk at the high school on Thursday about microfinancing and our upcoming African adventure. It will be a good opportunity for us to practice talking about Kiva to a large group of people and also to flesh out our understanding of the underlying principles of microcredit and it's applications.

More than anything though, I'm extremely interested to hear what a group of suburban high school kids think of the ideas. Fiona and I spent a few hours this evening putting together our presentation. It should be a good one because not only are we talking about something cool and somewhat revolutionary, but also because we'll be able to intersperse it with crazy stories and pictures from years of traveling through third-world countries.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 10, 2006 at 11:30 PM in Kiva/VEF | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 08 January 2006

Kiva Laptop Drive Update

A friend of mine pledged another laptop yesterday, bringing the total up to:

• 5 laptops
• 2 digital cameras

Recently, Kiva has been written about in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ link behind subscription wall, but the link is a reprint via another paper), and The Village Voice.

Do you own a used laptop or digital camera that you can donate to a phenomenal cause? Kiva needs both Internet capable laptop computers as well as digital cameras to support their mission on the delivery side. Please investigate your personal inventory of aging computers and digital cameras. If you have something you can donate leave a comment and we'll take it from there. Kiva will provide you with receipts for the equipment so that you donate. If you do not have anything in your own inventory, please pass word to someone you know who might. We hope to raise between 10 and 20 used laptops and cameras over the next month.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 8, 2006 at 11:29 AM in Kiva/VEF | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Saturday, 07 January 2006

Kiva Laptop Drive Update

People never cease to amaze me with their generosity. When my friend Rob sent out the initial email (see below) with a goal of between 10-20 laptops and cameras I thought he was dreaming. But it looks like it just might happen!

So far we're up to:

• 4 laptops
• 2 digital cameras

Keep em coming!!

Posted by flow Frazao on January 7, 2006 at 12:37 AM in Kiva/VEF | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 06 January 2006

Weird Earls

Here a link, there a link, everywhere a link-link:

• Top 10 Weirdest USB Drives Ever
• Microsoft Defends Censoring a Dissident's Blog in China
• Second chord sounds in world's longest lasting concert
• The Cowbell Project. Finally, a searchable database of songs featuring "the dark ring that pounds in the back of your brain and lets you know, it's time to rock".

Posted by flow Frazao on January 6, 2006 at 10:53 PM in Weird Earls | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 05 January 2006

Sofware for OS X - Recommendations?

For the past however many years I've been using web interfaces for blogging. I was on blogger back before they were bought by google, and then I made the switch to Typepad. However, I'd like to be able to continue posting while we're in Africa, and I won't be able to do that if I'm dependent on a web connection every time I want to write an update. I guess what I'm looking for is something like Outlook or Thunderbird, but for blogging instead of email.

I've been looking at various blog editors, and right now I've narrowed it down to Ecto and MarsEdit. It's a difficult decision because they both suck in unique ways. Neither app behaves the way it ought to, and they've each got different annoying quirks. Anyway, if anyone out there has any recommendations on a decent Typepad-compatible editor for Mac OS X, I'm all ears.

Also, I need a quick and easy way to take images from my monstrosity of a digital camera (6 MP) and easily convert them to web-friendly size. Ideally I'd like to find a macro where I could just right click on the file in Finder and select "Format for Web" or whatever and have my photo automagically resized to 450px by 300px at a resolution of around 72.

While I'm at it, if there's any other Mac software you can't live without please let me know what it is. I might not be able to live without it either, in which case my life may very well be in your hands. Don't let me down.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 5, 2006 at 12:25 AM in TTSU Maintenance, Web/Tech, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 04 January 2006

This Day In Apple History

Did you know that the beginnings of America Online are rooted in Apple? Neither did I:

Apple had every chance to be a major internet service provider and the opportunity was never so obvious as glaring when Apple began project Samuel. The result was AppleLink-Personal Edition. For $6 to $15 an hour users could connect to Apple-centric resources via the phone line. Apple provided the software and marketing while a little known company called Quantum built and maintained the system.

Unfortunately Apple and Quantum battled over the vision for the service and during a fat cutting session at Apple, AppleLink was killed. This left Quantum a bit high and dry but Apple compensated the corporation by funding completion of the project. With the Apple out of the way Quantum dumped the Apple branding and renamed the corporation America Online.

Straight from the “Oops, I call do over” department, Apple tried to retake the market it could have dominated with an online Macintosh only service called eWorld. The too little, too late effort was announced the first week of January 1994.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 4, 2006 at 10:52 PM in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Weird Earls

I am the Duke of URL:

• If you haven't watched David Letterman make a fool of Bill O'Reilly, then you're really ought to get your schadenfreude on.
• A long list of buzzwords compiled by a consultant over a few days work at a "local big-box retailer". I wish I could say this were a comprehensive list, but after three years of working in DC I can say for certain that this is but a drop in the bucket.
• Netgear Inc. and Skype plan to introduce the first wireless mobile telephone for Skype.
• Fark.com: Ariel Sharon reportedly alive after surgery. Report that he's actually dead after all is expected in 45 minutes.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 4, 2006 at 06:37 PM in Weird Earls | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thoughts on What the Future Holds for the Non-Profit World

As most of you know, I've been doing a lot of reading over the past few months about microfinancing and the world of non-profits in general. I've learned quite a lot, and it's been a humbling experience to jump into a universe about which I know so little.

One of the themes I've come across repeatedly in my readings is what seems to be a relatively high level of mistrust regarding charitable donations. A week ago I read an article on the anniversary of the tsunami that said over a third of the donations had gone to operating costs for the various organizations. Similarly, I've heard about the same type of behavior (and worse) regarding money donated after 9/11. One can only imagine what we'll be hearing on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Of course, this type of conduct is confined to a small minority of organizations, but it happens enough that it seems to have become a considerable deterrent to people donating money. How many times have you heard somebody say "Yeah, I'd like to donate some money, but who knows how much of that will actually make it to the people in need?"

One of the things I find so exciting about Kiva is the prospect of countering this type of attitude by addressing the problem directly. For the first time, a global technology exists that can reassure people that yes, all of your money is really going directly to a person who needs it. Thanks to regular photos/blogging/email updates, there will be no doubt as to the difference a Kiva donation will have made. I suspect that this will be a very effective way to show people that 30% overhead is not a byproduct of philanthropy, but merely ineffective operating on the part of an outdated model.

My vision is that in the 21st century the days of handing money to a monolithic organization only to watch it disappear behind a curtain will be over. Why shouldn't people keep tabs on their social investments as well as their stocks, bonds, and other assets? There's no reason that people shouldn't expect a return on any investment - be it a financially beneficial or social one. The return might not take on a monetary form, but it is still a return just the same.

In addition to making profit-maximizing investments in companies based on potential financial gain, the 21st century "social capitalist" will also choose to make social-objective driven investments (aka donations) based on potential social gain. For example, while a traditional investment takes into account things like P/E ratios and Morningstar ratings, a socially motivated investment will consider factors such as administrative costs vs. actual services delivered and ratings by independent non-profit evaluators such as Charity Navigator.

Fifteen years ago it would have been impossible to imagine the amount of control individuals now wield over their portfolios. In 1990 who would have thought that Grandmas would be daytrading in their muumuus over a computer without ever having to call a stockbroker or sign a pile of forms?

The same level of control is coming to the non-profit world. People will soon be able to monitor their social investments with as little effort as they now monitor their other assets. The days of enormous organizations siphoning money off the goodwill of regular people are numbered, and I certainly won't miss them when they're gone.

For a more in-depth look at the future of the non-profit world by one of the industry leaders, take a look at this paper by Muhammad Yunus.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 4, 2006 at 01:18 AM in Kiva/VEF, Microfinancing, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Kiva Laptop Drive

Do you own a used laptop or digital camera that you can donate to a phenomenal cause?

Kiva needs both Internet capable laptop computers as well as digital cameras to support their mission on the delivery side.

Please investigate your personal inventory of aging computers and digital cameras. If you have something you can donate leave a comment and we'll take it from there. Kiva will provide you with receipts for the equipment so that you donate. If you do not have anything in your own inventory, please pass word to someone you know who might.

We hope to raise between 10 and 20 used laptops and cameras over the next month.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 4, 2006 at 12:44 AM in Kiva/VEF | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 03 January 2006

Please God, No

Kerry Positioned for '08 White House Bid:

The Massachusetts Democrat, defeated by Bush in 2004, insists it is far too early to talk about the 2008 race, but some analysts assume he has already positioning himself for another shot at the White House. "Obviously, Kerry has all but said he wants another crack at the thing," said Neal Thigpen, a political science professor at South Carolina's Francis Marion University. "He's going to make a second try."

I think this GOP strategist sums up the situation thoroughly:

"He believes in his heart and soul that he came just a whisker away from being president," said Ronald Kaufman, a veteran GOP operative with Massachusetts roots. Kerry's image as a Northeast liberal with fuzzy views on major issues like Iraq would make him vulnerable once more, said Kaufman, who was White House political director for Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush.

"I go to bed every night praying Kerry is the nominee again," he said.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 3, 2006 at 03:36 PM in America, Current Affairs, US News | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

First Snow of the Year

This was my view out the window this morning. Beautiful, but holy smokes that's some heavy snow. Each shovelful weighed about 20 pounds, and I was stupid enough to go outside in sneakers. They should be dry by the time we get back from Africa.

Hopefully the snow will stop falling before it gets dark out and I'll be able to get outside with my brand new zoom lens and give it a good workout.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 3, 2006 at 02:23 PM in Photos | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Low-cost Lamps Brighten the Future of Rural India

Khadakwadi, India:

Until just three months ago, life in this humble village without electricity would come to a grinding halt after sunset. Inside his mud-and-clay home, Ganpat Jadhav's three children used to study in the dim, smoky glow of a kerosene lamp. And when their monthly fuel quota of four liters dried up in just a fortnight, they had to strain their eyes using the light from a cooking fire.

That all changed with the installation of low-cost, energy-efficient lamps that are powered entirely by the sun. The GSBF lamps use LEDs - light emitting diodes - that are four times more efficient than an incandescent bulb. After a $55 installation cost, solar energy lights the lamp free of charge.

"Children can now study at night, elders can manage their chores better," says Mr. Jadhav. "Life doesn't halt anymore when darkness falls."
The innovative lights were installed by the Grameen Surya Bijli Foundation (GSBF), a Bombay-based nongovernmental organization focused on bringing light to rural India. Some 100,000 Indian villages do not yet have electricity. LED lighting, like cellphones, is another example of a technology whose low cost could allow the rural poor to leapfrog into the 21st century.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 3, 2006 at 11:34 AM in Cool Stuff, Microfinancing, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tanzania hits 30 percent target of women representation in parliament

Here's a bit of good news about one of the countries Fiona and I will be working in:

Tanzania has become the third country within the South African Development Community (SADC) to have attained the target of having women taking up at least 30 percent of the country's parliamentary seats.

The registration of parliamentary swear-in's showed that 97 women had been sworn in by the parliament which met on December 30 in Dodoma in central Tanzania.

The number of women as against the total of 319 members of parliament stands a 30.4 percent of women representation in the parliament, just in accordance with the 1997 SADC declaration that required signatory countries to attain 30 percent of women representation in decision-making posts by the end of 2005.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 3, 2006 at 11:04 AM in Africa, Microfinancing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Weird Earls

Today's leftovers, fresh out of the thermonuclear discombustulator:

• Ever wonder what a potato going 100 mph would do to a head of lettuce? Now you know.
• In case you need another reason to stop using Microsoft's sucky software, their latest business plan seems to include shutting down bloggers on its MSN Spaces service who criticize the Chinese government. It'd be such a shame to let something like freedom of speech get in the way of big contracts with oppressive governments.
• Wanna be a rock star? Here are some important poses you should master first.
• WARNING: This site contains images. (SFW - sort of)
• And now this from Pluto - something about Julie Andrews, Hitler, and her first born son. If you can make sense of it, let me know.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 3, 2006 at 08:38 AM in Weird Earls | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 02 January 2006

Muhammad Yunus Article In Business Week

For those who haven't been reading my posts recently about the Microcredit adventure Fiona and I are about to embark upon, here's a bit of background on my current hero, Muhammad Yunus:

That said, it's amazing to see how Yunus' idea has taken off. It boggles my mind to think that thirty years ago he loaned out what basically amounts to a pocketful of spare change, and from that so much has spawned. This article puts forth that almost 100 million people have been affected by the Microfinancing movement:

I would tend to agree with Sam's statement. Even if someone were to disagree, I don't think anyone could argue that Yunus is at the very least a visionary in his field. Here's a guy who has turned banking on it's head in Bangladesh, and there are now offshoot programs providing funding, training, technical assistance and other support services to 86 Grameen type credit and savings programs in 28 countries. Talk about repeatable results - if the Grameen Bank were a physics experiment Yunus would have won a Nobel Prize by now.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 2, 2006 at 09:27 PM in Microfinancing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Yet Another Reason Not to Buy A Coldplay CD

Check out the insert from their latest CD:

It's almost as though they don't want you to listen to their album. Fine with me, but my fear is that this type of nonsense may spread to artists that don't suck.

The more I think about it though, the more it seems like the last desperate gasps of a dying music industry. Not a moment too soon, as far as I'm concerned.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 2, 2006 at 04:12 PM in Music, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Techmology - Eez It Good?

Along with more frequent postings, another one of my goals is to become a much more efficient time-waster. I generally spend a few hours a day doing web research on microfinancing, keeping up with the news, checking out the Asian Babe of the Week, and so forth. However, I've decided that I'm just not wasting my time wisely enough.

After monitoring my behavior over the past week or so, I've come to the realization that I use a lot of bandwidth returning to sites to check if they've been updated. With the advent of RSS a few years ago, that kind of thing is no longer necessary. From now on I've vowed that I'll be running an RSS News Aggregator (NetNewsWire is my early preference) to keep me automatically alerted to any updates.

Currently, I'm using it to monitor all my favorite freedom-hater blogs, relevant news stories, and anything concerning Microfinancing. I've got the RSS feeds for Daily Kos, Eschaton, and a couple of other blogs. As for news, I'm continuously monitoring Google News for any articles published by any of the 4500 news sources about Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. Every time a new article is written, this magical application sucks it down off the net and regurgitates it directly into my brain like a well-read mama bird.

I figure it'll also come in handy when we're in Africa and internet connections aren't readily available. With a newsreader, I'll be able to plug in whenever I get a connection, fire up the application and hit "Update" to download all the recent postings. Then I'll be able to read everything offline at my leisure.

My only complaint is that the Asian Babe of the Month doesn't have an RSS feed. Oh well. I guess one can only expect so much from technology.

By the way, this site has been publishing an RSS feed for about two years. The link can by found by doing a page search for the words "Subscribe to this blog's feed" or by simply clicking here.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 2, 2006 at 03:14 PM in Cool Stuff, Me, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Weird Earls

Speaking of wasting time:

• IFILM's Best of 2005 Roundup. My favorite Chinese Backstreet Boys get a mention, and don't miss the preview for Shining.
• Zladko “Zlad” Vladcik was to perform his very popular techno-ballad, “Elektronik – Supersonik”
• Check out the pollution scorecard for your zipcode.
• And finally, the early front-runner for Most Unintentionally Funny Headline of 2006.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 2, 2006 at 12:53 PM in Weird Earls | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

New Year's Resolution

OK, so around this time of year everybody's always on about "I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that." Mine is more posting. Not necessarily about anything in particular, but just a bit more of the old linguistic and photographic diarrhea, if you will.

I'll do my best to ease my way into regular updates by starting off the New Year with a few shots of the recent snowfall. We may not have had a white Christmas, but we definitely had a blizzard on New Year's Eve. This was the view down the street from just outside the Cheese Shop where I've been working.

Posted by flow Frazao on January 2, 2006 at 01:05 AM in Photos | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack