Campiones

That's right, you're reading from a member of the 2008 University of maryland at college park spring semester grad/faculty/staff men's outdoor intramural soccer champions!!! The game was played under the lights last night, starting at 9pm, against the team from the school of public policy, which features some very good players. We played them once during the regular season and tied them. The game last night was tooth and nail - tied 0-0 at the end of regulation, then to sudden death, then into penalty kicks. After the first round of 5 kicks, neither team had missed. Then we went into sudden death penalty kicks, and our rookie keeper blocked their first kick!...a sweet victory was ours! We had convinced a few of our classmates and girlfriends to show up and cheer us on, and the school of policy had done likewise, so the atmosphere was electric. A lot of yelling and screaming. It was a shame to end it in PKs, but we won! I made my kick, even though I missed a few opportunities during the game, so I was relieved about that. The game was followed by merrymaking into the wee hours.

We got cool championship shirts. The victors are pictured below:

Happy birthday to me

My birthday week is finally here! For the uninitiated, Rebecca and I, along with several of our friends/housemates, alot a full week to birthday celebrations. It is a relatively uncontroversial proposal, as we all agree that one day a year is not nearly enough, and none of our birthdays overlap that closely. I got lots of cards and well-wishes throughout the day, and we kicked things off Friday at happy hour, where I met a few friends and classmates, and then we returned to the house for some snacks and more socializing (we had to move to the backyard when a concerned neighbor, apparently upset she wasn't invited, told us to be quiet because of the 'kids'. This at 9:30pm on a Friday. What a party-pooper!)

Anyway, we had a good time. On the way home, I spied several of my friends surreptitiously emerging from the Dollar Star with gifts in tow. I was awarded
-a metallic-colored 'happy birthday' princess crown
-a plastic green frisbee with a picture of a cartoon dog and beach on the front
-a New Kids on The Block cd that I'd never heard of or would care to listen to again.
I also was awarded
-a bottle of super bubbles and a can of 'flarp' which is like wet play-doh that makes farting noises when you stick your fingers in it. Great! Needless to say, it was a fun night. Some of these great gifts might make their way into the rotation soon though, so beware.

Saturday morning, Rebs and I left earlyish to go camping at Cape Henlopen, at the northern tip of Delaware at the mouth of the Delaware river. It is a really pretty camping spot, actually a state park, and we hung out at the beach on Saturday and hiked and flew kites. We took photos, but their on Rebs' camera, so they will take forever to get to me. That night, it rained and thunderstormed, so we hunkered down in our tent, after going to the Blue Plate diner for the early bird special (6pm dinner!) and just relaxed while listening to the rain pelt our tent. The next day we packed up and headed back, stopping at a fruit stand and in Annapolis on the way home. It was a cool trip, for sure.

Rebecca promised me that she'd have a present for me every day this week, so I can't wait to see what's at home! I told her that it was okay if she wrapped up stuff that I already own, which I think is where we are at this point. I apparently depleted my other presents too quickly. 4 more days left!

Why Bother indeed?

Some of you may have received the following article email forwarded from me: ('Why Bother" by Michael Pollan)

The article discussed the difficulties of reconciling personal responsibility with the extreme uncertainty and disincentives embodied in climate change: The 'experts' tell us that the climate is changing, mean temperature is rising, extreme weather events are getting more common, habitats are changing, and a litany of other dire predictions and observations about the natural world. They say that this is because of accumulated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They say that the climate is too complex a system to be able accurately and precisely measure or predict the effects, but the cause is all to clear: too much fossil fuel combustion.

What's worse, this story has all the makings of a disaster scenario, or perfect storm, or whatever extremely bad moniker you want to apply:
-as a global phenomenon, our individual actions are small to the point of insignificance relative to the effect. Thus we are completely dissociated from the effects of our actions, what economists call 'moral hazard', or 'agency problems'.
-The phenomenon itself is lagged, required concerted and extended period of study to understand, diagnose, and design systems for repair. This is beyond most people's attention span. The result is either a lot of faith in scientists to get it right, or cynicism that exacerbates the problem.
-Both of the above spell trouble for voluntary cooperative agreements amongst companies, countries or individuals, which are typically based on aligning incentives in order to come to a settlement. If the offer is- suffer individually now (through less consumption and reduced lifestyle choices) so that all may benefit later (probably, although we don't know how much later or how much benefit) - it is difficult to imagine that a happy consensus will emerge. Witness the past Kyoto targets being missed if you doubt this conclusion.

The article offers a number of steps that people can take, if they so choose, but makes the important point that people must act, independently and in addition to government action, in order to solve a problem of this nature. The point is made without appealing to guilt ('don't you love your children and grandchildren'), a sense of global equity ('do pacific islanders deserve to be flooded') or personal virtue ('give 'til it hurts'), but rather through rational argument. It's a bit pie-in-the-sky at times, but I really enjoyed reading it. Obviously, I'm interested in the subject (who isn't?). Tasks for this weekend: organize my garden, fix my compost.

Soapbox dismount.

up to speed

San Francisco does have nice weather...especially when you're engaged! After proposing to Rebecca in the midst of a rain storm in the city by the bay, we had to keep it under wraps for a whole month until she returned to DC!! So, as of the end of March, Rebecca and I are acknowleding our mutual desire to be wedded in holy matrimony, on the day of May 16, 2009 in Santa Barbara, CA. We just figured out the date and place last weekend on a trip to SB, so now we can start planning some of the details: in the works are a website with some photos and details, discussions of a karaoke lottery at the reception, and me trying to rent portable ear walkie-talkies and a golf cart for my own private security detail at the wedding. But, that's mostly a story for another posting.

After returning from SF, I took the opportunity at the end of March (spring break time in this part of the world) to head north and see friends Katie and Laura in NYC, then up to Maine to see aunts Carol and Jackie. The trip began okay, and New York was as crazy and fun as always, but by the second night I was starting to slow down, and by Sunday (I took the bus up Friday morning), I was wiped out. Friday afternoon had been a trip to Brooklyn brewery for happy hour and then to a Slovak beer garden with Laura and Peter, Saturday saw Katie and I in Soho and the village, and Sunday saw me passed out on Laura and Peter's couch. Unfortunately, Monday required me to make a 4hr bus journey to Boston, then another 2hr bus ride to Portland, then catch the ferry to the island. It was no fun with the flu, I can tell you that much, but it was great to arrive on Peaks Island and be pampered and cooked for. I slept a lot for the first few days, but a take home midterm forced me to speed up my recuperation and I spent Wed-Sat working on that. (it didn't seem to help much, I later learned :( )

I returned from Maine on Saturday and Rebecca met me at the airport, having just arrived from Asia. We set about formalizing our engagement the next day, calling parents via skype and sending messages to friends, etc. April just seems to have slipped away so far. It's busy season at school, with midterms just ending and final projects beginning, and I've also been trying to figure out my summer plans: I turned down an internship in Austria in favor of staying in DC with fiance, so I have to find a way to get paid to do it. And, oh, there's the wedding to plan. We will actually be going to Toronto in August to do a Chinese ceremony/wedding party, so that will be nice to look forward too.

And next weekend I'm going camping at the beach (I think, Rebs is keeping me in the dark).
Some photos of the waves on Peak's Island (Cape Elizabeth lighthouse in background)
It looks cold for a reason, it was hovering around 35F that day
On a recent Saturday, friend Annie celebrated her birthday with a scavenger hunt. We were the winning team, here are two of the winning photos... (this one required taking a photo with 3 Chinese people in Chinatown)
This photo required going under the Chinatown arch