I've posted some of my Scotland pics on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13764020@N00/sets/72157622331076633


Here are a few samples:

North of Ullapool, in the very north-west of Scotland:


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Current Location: Dreaming of Scotland

We got back into LA last night; the travel was long but uneventful (Air New Zealand is a great airline -- the lamb curry they served on the trip back was probably the best meal I've ever had on a flight).

The trip was amazing -- as you'll see, the stars (including the sun) were wonderfully aligned throughout. I want to start by thanking my mom & step-dad, whose incredible generosity and love allowed the trip to happen. We have been talking with them about this trip for years, and with both of us out of work, they covered the flights and the amazing hotels we stayed in throughout the trip. Not only that, but they are great to travel with, and just plain wonderful people to boot...

A bit of background: Tamara's father was Scottish -- he was born in Edinburgh -- and Tamara has never been. I traveled to Edinburgh with my Dad and sister 22 years ago, when I was doing my year abroad in Grenoble, France, and we explored the city and the area around it, but I've never gotten to travel up into the Highlands.

Our itinerary was:
3 nights near Oban in the West
1 night in the far north-west, near the Summer Isles
2 nights in the far north-east, near Tain
4 nights in the north-east, in Ballater
1 night at Glen Eagles Resort, at the south edge of the Highlands
2 nights in Edinburgh

I'll be blogging about our trip in several parts, and I hope to have some photos up by the end of the week.

It is good to be home, but we spent two weeks we'll never forget...

Current Mood: truly blessed

I was initially going to comment on a friend's post, but decided I had too much to say to put my comments there.

It is disheartening to see the discussion about health care reform in this country devolve into largely hysteric and hyperbolic cries about socialism, death panels, and the like. Especially considering that the changes being proposed are just a small step towards any significant improvement in American health care.

Let me start by acknowledging a couple of things: the US is a leader in the frontiers of health care, including pharma, and the R&D involved in that is extremely expensive and those costs need to go somewhere; America has the best doctors in the world when it comes to specialists, and the compensation these specialists receive is a big part of that; changes to the health care system as it stands will affect the health insurance industry and a significant portion of the health care industry that has developed to work within the current system (i.e., a number of people will eventually lose jobs if serious change is undertaken -- though not significantly with the current bill. New jobs will be created elsewhere, but the change will be painful for some people); and, despite the administration claims that there will be net-zero cost to change, there will indeed be significant costs (though, as I'll explain below, the costs of doing nothing are much higher).
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Current Mood: frustrated

I'm late posting this, but two weeks ago Tamara and I drove up to visit my mom & step-father up in the Santa Ynez. As always, it was a wonderful visit, full of great food and plenty of wine. We also visited the Lompoc Dog show, spent some time with my mom's filly and her new colt, and drove out to the beach.

We had a marvelous time -- their place is truly an oasis.

I also took some pictures, of course. I haven't uploaded too many but you can find them here:
http://pics.livejournal.com/liquid_siftings/pic/000bgwa4/g27

Here are a couple of samples:
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I wasn't tagged, but since you are all fascinated by my spectacular musical tastes...

a) Turn on your MP3 player/iPod or music player on your computer.
b) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
c) Write down the first 25 songs that come up--song title and artist--NO editing/cheating, please.
d) Tag or don't tag, as you wish.


1. Milkdrunk - Halou
2. Praise - David Sylvian
3. Theme for Doris - Tina Brooks
4. Senses - DJ Addiction
5. Day Too Soon - Sia
6. Sunny Road - Emiliana Torrini
7. Sweet (Soulchild Radio Edit) - Lamb
8. Kumasee - African Headcharge
9. Little More - Lyn Leon
10. Delicate Cutters - Throwing Muses
11. Saltarello - Dead Can Dance
12. The World is Made up of This and That (Fatboy Slim Mix) - Deeds Plus Thought
13. Hints - Jose Gonzalez
14. That's Good - Devo
15. Sartori in Tangier - King Crimson
16. Euphoria (Firefly) - Delerium & Jacqui Hunt
17. Cantamilla - Tranquillity Bass
18. Missing - Everything But the Girl
19. Raspberry Swirl - Tori Amos
20. O Samba Tai - Seu Jorge
21. Memory Gongs - Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd
22. Napoleon - Ani DiFranco
23. Sugar boy - Beth Orton
24. Sitting Still - R.E.M.
25. Easy Skanking - Bob Marley

Current Mood: Happy 4th everyone!
Soundtrack: #26 - "Paris, Texas" - The Gotan Project

So, Tamara and I are not really the outdoorsy types, as many of you know. Tamara has never camped before, and it has been 10+ years since the last time I camped.

Well, our good friend Marriah brazen_strumpet invited us to camp with her family to celebrate her birthday this past weekend. We absolutely wanted to go, so we joined them up in the Angeles Crest National Forest at about 6500 feet. The campsite was beautiful and secluded, and Marriah's family are wonderful. Less wonderful was the unseasonable cold: high 40s/low 50s during the day, high 20s at night. Needless to say, Tamara and I were underprepared, and Friday night was quite an ordeal. I'm not sure we've ever been colder. We ended up coming home late Saturday night because we didn't want to risk another bad night or getting sick.

Friday and Saturday were great fun, though, despite the weather. Lots of sitting around the fire, enjoying the scenery, fun conversation, good food, a wee bit of alcohol, and a great hike on Saturday.

Got some good pictures too:



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Current Mood: content

visited 28 states (56%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or another interesting project

Surprisingly, I have never been to Vermont or Rhode Island, despite having gone to Boston U, nor have I been to Idaho, despite my sister living there for the past 4 years.

I did not include Utah, since I've never been out of the SLC airport.

Current Location: Cali
Current Mood: travellin' man

List 15 books that will always stick with you, and you're not allowed to agonise or think too hard. These are in no particular order:

1. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
2. Collected Poems by T. S. Eliot
3. Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos
4. Rue des boutiques obscurs ("Street of Dark Stores") by Patrick Modiano
5. Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkein
6. Possession by A. S. Byatt
7. La jalousie ("Jealousy") by Alain Robbe-Grillet
8. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
9. Watership Down by Richard Adams
10. The Balcony by Jean Genet
11. Moderato Cantabile by Marguerite Duras
12. A Song of Fire and Ice series by George R R Martin
13. The Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
14. Le mort du roi Artu, author unknown
15. Neuromancer by William Gibson

Note that these are not what I think are the best books ever written, nor are they necessarily my favorite books (though there's significant overlap) -- these are the ones that stick with me (and I'm sure once I post this I'll remember others).

What are yours?

Current Mood: Bookish

My cousin Michael just scanned a bunch of old orange crate labels from the Eadington Fruit Company and Bastanchury Ranch Company. I have uploaded these to a gallery here:

http://pics.livejournal.com/liquid_siftings/gallery/0000tdct

My paternal grandmother's family, the Bastanchurys, were Basque and came to California on a Spanish Land Grant in the 19th century. By the early 20th century, they switched from shepherding to fruit orchards (a much better choice for Southern California). By the late 20s, the Bastanchurys had the largest orange & lemon orchards in the world. Alas, with the Great Depression, most of the land was lost. There is still a major road through north Orange County called Bastanchury Road.



My paternal grandfather, who married Elizabeth Bastanchury, started a fruit company in the mid-20th century: the Eadington Fruit Company. He later was mayor of Fullerton for a term. The Eadington Fruit Company was in the fruit growing and packing business for many years, until the early 80s, at which point the changing landscape of SoCal pushed them more and more out of agriculture and into commercial land. Due to various intra-family pressures, the company's land was sold off bit by bit, and it was finally closed down about 4 years ago.

Current Mood: nostalgic

So, la la la, I like The Airborne Toxic Event. I found out about them because two separate groups of friends in my life both really have been singing their praises. I listen to their stuff & like it quite a bit. I see them (from a distance) at Coachella, like their set, and am talking my friend Trish about them. Turns out she is engaged to the brother of the lead singer. I mention that I know another group of real big fans that she's probably met. Does she know Tim? No? What about Andrew, who's in the band Radars to the Sky. Yes! Well, I used to play poker with Andrew, Tim and a few others. Really? Mik (lead singer of ATE) used to play poker with them all the time...

DING! The light goes on: Mik is Mikel Jollett. Whom I know and played poker with fairly regularly 6-8 years ago, but haven't seen in ages. Wow. Wow!!

On the one hand, I feel like a complete idiot for not figuring this out until now. On the other, I am so psyched for him.

And what a freaking small world!

Current Mood: fascinated
Soundtrack: "Innocence," The Airborne Toxic Event