An estimated 100,000 are engaging in an anti-war protest in Washington D.C.; AZpeace.org has organized a protest on the same day (Saturday September 24th 2005) starting at 4pm at the intersection of 24th Street and Camelback.

More information here: Phoenix Iraq War Protest

Sitting at work today, I keep watching news coverage of Hurricane Rita. Oil refineries in Houston started shutting down yesterday. We’re currently down to less than 75% of our domestic oil refinery capacity. Though I haven’t found any news articles that are making any sort of serious speculation about gas prices… I have to wonder if we’re in for some seriously unpleasant spikes very, very soon.

I live about 4 miles from my office so even as all my coworkers have started taking busses to work, I’ve been holding off. I keep hearing stories about how day by day, the busses are getting fuller and fuller- especially on the routes coming to central phoenix from the suburbs. And if they’re having trouble now… imagine what will happen if gas hits $4 or $5 a gallon? Phoenix is just not prepared for that.

I think it’s about time to buy a bicycle. I’ve never commuted by bike but it’s a straight shot and it should be easy enough to do. Maybe if I shop around at garage sales this weekend I can find a cheap one and try it out.

I cannot believe how many times I have been asked this question here. The questioners seem nice and sincere. Their question genuine and without malice. But each time I hear it it stings.

So what kind of Asian are you?

Do White people ask each other what kind of White people they are? Or do they find out family names and infer from that, or can they tell by looking? What about Blacks?

So, what kind of Asian are you?

I never know how to answer that. Do I give the one word answer - mixed? Or the whole class-order-family-genus-species thing? Because I am a part of an Asian diaspora that does not resemble our cousins in the old country. If I gave the one word answer, they would not be closer to understanding who I am. And I hope that is the purpose of the question.

So, dude, what kind of Asian are you!?!

I am the sticky rice kind. Err, the sticky rice kind that Japanese or Koreans usually eat, not the kind that Thais eat. I am the kind that only goes to the temple on New Years Day (round midnight). I am told this is like E & C Catholics or Jews that do not eat pork but know this great recipe. I am the kind that worships Johnny To but have to see his movies with English sub-titles. I am the kind that can tell if you are speaking Hindi, or Ilocano, or Bahasa, or Japanese, or Korean, or Thai, or Russian, or French. And I am the kind that is so fricking grateful to have found Lee Lee Oriental Supermarket in Chandler.

So, uh, what kind of Asian is that?

Thank goodness they caught this pervert. While it’s wonderful to open the windows and use the screen door as the weather cools off, it’s sad that you have to worry about degenerates peeping straight into your home after following you home and memorizing your daily habits.

It took awhile, but I got used to the heat. The humidity never bothered me. And I discovered that I really liked tamales. I knew Phoenix was going to be different. I knew that and I accepted it.

This place is so different from my small rural town. There are an awful lot of people here. That Supercenter is bigger than the town I used to live in and probably has more people in it. There is a strip mall on each and every corner here. I used to drive 50 miles to see a movie. Now there are probably 100 screens within a ten-minute drive.

I saw a coyote crossing the street in Northern Phoenix.

A friend recently told me that when it is a big change you hardly notice. It is true at the beginning, but then all of a sudden you do.

My yard is abuzz with mosquitos. I think they’re somehow nesting in the koi pond, but it’s getting ridiculous. I need but stand outside for five minutes and a swarm will appear around me. While this would typically be just a nuisance, this whole west nile virus thing has got me wondering how I might go about destroying the source. Any ideas?

Ordinarily I would have no problem liberally dousing the area with pesticides. Or I could just stop watering the area and dry it out. But my poor innocent koi would be destroyed by either of those solutions, so I’m looking for a way to kill the skeeters without damaging the fish.

My yard has been an exercise in tolerance for me. It’s lush enough that it harbors all manner of crawly things. Slugs, geckos, yellow jackets, mosquitos, crickets, ants, cockroaches, woodlice, spiders galore. I hate all of those things in varying amounts, and one of my favorite Arizona features has always been the lack of crawly animal life.

Speaking of woodlice, I was just reading about them on wikipedia and discovered that they are actually crustaceans! They’re closely related to an aquatic species that looks much like them but are horrifyingly large and scary looking. See here for details about them including alternate names… (roly-poly being what we called them in Oklahoma)… here for information about their gigantic aquatic cousins… and here, and here for images of the big ones that’ll give you crawly nightmares for weeks to come.

And as if that weren’t enough, I found many recipes for preparing and consuming them. Apparently they’re similar in flavor to shrimp.

I had my first professional massage today, 60 minutes of “sveedish” bliss with a little deep tissue thrown in for good measure. I probably would never have made an appointment on my own, but it sure as hell was a great birthday gift. Up until a few years ago I was always very laid back and relaxed, still am, but not as much as I used to be. It took me awhile to relax into the massage, and it made me realize just how tense I was. Too much crap going on in the cereberal cortex, sadly. If you’ve got a stressed out friend or relative, consider a gift certificate for a massage, most places have a $39 swedish style special. Or even cheaper, there’s a school of massage in Tempe at Southern and Priest that offers discount student massages, which is where I’ll be going next. This could become a habit!

I woke up the other day to the sound of rushing water outside. My bi-weekly irrigation service had arrived several hours early, and my entire yard was flooded with water- which is good- except that it was higher than it’s ever been, washing up onto the pavement and starting to spill past the garage into the driveway. This is not a small yard we’re talking about, either. That’s a lot of water.

I’m sure the trees and the lawn are happy with all the extra water to suck down, but it left a bit of a mess on the pavement. All the crap that perpetually rains down from the mesquite tree was swept up onto the pavement where it left rings of dried plant matter everywhere. It should be easy enough to sweep up, but I think I’ll leave it and see if the lawn maintenance guys will tend to it for me. Muahahahaha…

I have decided to do a series on the coffee houses of The Valley for Metroblogging Phoenix. First on the list is Coffee Cabana in Mesa cause they have a drive-thru.

Presh ordered an espresso shake and I got the affogato. I have been wanting to try an affogato ever since my friend Jonathan wrote about it on Double Squids. You can read his description of the perfect affogato. He makes it sound yummy. What I got was two scoops of ice cream with a shot poured over it. Uh…

Presh loved her shake and I loved the drive-thru experience. Not so much that ice cream thing. I will be back to sample the brew. In the meantime the search goes on.

I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with my school. I am a first trimester student at Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Business. We’ve been in classes for 2 weeks now, and already, people are going insane from the stress. This coming week, we have a Data Analysis Assignment and a group project for Strategy due. We also have an Accounting midterm. Those no on the language track have an additional group project for Marketing. I know grad school is tough, and fully expected to be worked to the bone. It’s just that after being in the work force for a 5 years, you forget how much work school actually is.
I think what makes it the most difficult is that our groups are assigned by the professors, and they are always a mix of many different countries of origin. The difficulty is that many of our group members have English as a second language, and aren’t exactly fluent. They are shy about contributing, and when they submit their part of the project, it often times has to be rewritten by a native English speaker. It’s really frustrating for both parties. But I guess that’s what they’re trying to teach us here.
On a happier note, tonight a group of friends and I are going to see Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show at the Celebrity Theater in downtown Phoenix. So if you’re going too, see you there!