Risk... world domination or people domination

Playing the game of Risk may give you the feeling of power as you crush your enemies with the simple flick of the wrist and the turn of the dice, yet underlying the apparent game lies a another more sinister game. If you are like the masses who play the game to win then skip to another pretty location and enjoy the bliss-full happiness that winning gives you. However if you like intrigue and mystery, mind-games and back-room deals read on....

When playing the game of Risk the game is often decided from the get go with the initial set of card or countries you receive. If you get a good hand the countries you get will be both easily defensible and also give you a unique vantage in pressing an attack. The true game is not necessarily to win but to figure out who has that magic hand and to facilitate the play so that the winner is who you chose it to be. And if you have the art of wheeling and dealing down you can convince those which may be friends to attack each other, good strategies to be abandoned for short term goals that are detrimental in the end and overall control more that just your own pieces. To quote a charactor from the TV show How I Met Your Mother, as the Legen- - wait for it - -dary Barney Stinson would say... Dance Puppets Dance!

Ah the smell of fear.....

11 Lbs.

Just got back from the tri-cities area. I had the oppotunity to meet up with a friend from the wet side of the state as she was visiting friends and family over in the area. Bowling was fun and I have found that a 11 Lb ball is the ideal tool for me. 4 strikes in a row cant be wrong... its just too bad that I found this bowling ball on the 4th frame of the last game. Oh well at least I know what to look for next time. 

The weekend is here and as I am contemplating on what I would like to do this weekend I am also trying to think of the things that I should be doing... like cleaning up the mess in my living room... but that can wait. Its the weekend and its going to be sunny. Cant let something like this go by without taking full advantage of it. 

Life is too short to let days like this go by unused... 

Poisoned water; a PBS special

Over the last two days, I have in spurts and when I have time between other activities, been watching the PBS special "Poisoned Waters". This documentary just came out over the last couple days. This documentary while almost two hours long takes a hard look at the quality of two bodies of water, the Chesapeake bay and the Puget Sound, that bracket this country. 

Poisoned water shows the condition of the two bodies of water and if one were to read between the lines has a very powerful message for those of us living within the Pacific Northwest region. If we were to take the Chesapeake bay as a view of the sound as seen through a crystal ball 50 years into the future it is quite a dismal view. In its current state the bay is dying at a rapid pace due to the urban sprawl that is taking place in its watershed. Here in the Northwest we have not got to the stage where we are so over populated however looking at cities such as Seattle and Issaquah as we become more of an attraction and as the quality of life for those currently living their gets better, more and more people are going to want to get in on the action. What then and how will it affect the sound?

I cant say how the next several years will play out for these two bodies of water nor does this film attempt to do so which gives each one of us a role to play in it. Now as actors in this documentary what will we do to write the next phase, the next chapter or the next scene that future generations will be looking at? What will their reaction to our actions be? Will they say, "wow, thats the year, the month, the day when things were turned around and it started to get better". Will there be a holiday dedicated to us as the day when we took a stand to make our corner of the world be the tip of the spear in the movement to bring about a healthy world? Well I guess its time we do something about it.

Varieties of Apples

Last night I took part in an interesting experiment. With 10 dollars as a basic budget we visited the local Walmart, Safeway and SuperOne grocery stores in search of apples. We were able to procure 11 different varieties and coming home cut each of them up and had a side by side tasting experience. Now for those of you who like me had had an apple in the past and ate it for the sake of getting some nutrition and maybe enjoying the crispness, this is and was an interesting eye opener. 

Each variety of apple has a unique taste and texture. For those of you familiar with the concept this may not be such an earth shattering revelation. However even though I had expected some difference in perhaps taste and or texture the exercise its self was an eye opening experience. In some it was a subtle fluffiness in the texture. Others had a bolder crispness to them. Several had hints of other fruit flavors that seem to be infused and intermingles with the basic apple taste. 

With the weather turning warm and the coming growing season I am looking forward to exploring other local flavors and deluging my taste-buds with a stream of culinary delights both cooked and fresh. 

And as a side note I must also make note of the accompaniments to the apple experience which was a nice chilled glass of mango lemonade and a 40 oz stake that was cooked for 38 minuets. thats right 2.5 lb. of prime cow. its a good thing I had all those apples to balance me out.

A restful weekend

Its hard to imagine that the weekend has come and gone already. I cant confess to having much productive work done during this time but I can claim getting plenty of rest. I also had the pleasure of having people over on a couple occasions for meals. As a self proclaimed foodist I must confess that this is one aspect of my personal life that I find to be very satisfying. Food while at times consumed for the mere sake of obtaining nourishment can also be a remarkable journey that one can take in which sights, smells and taste are but a never-ending series of detours that results in a happy self. 

One of my personal ideologies is that food is the only aspect of a culture that can be experienced by someone outside that given culture and truly feel included. Unlike sights and sounds the mere act of which tends to reenforce the barrier of the two cultures, food transcends that and takes one to an equal playing field. This got me thinking further on this topic this weekend. What is it that in my construct of this idea of food and culture being tied together does the sense of taste take a role that is more important that that os any of the other senses? I feel that the answer is as simple as the thought process is long. With any of the other senses we can only get a memory that can be take away from the experience. This is not the case with food. Our bodies take in the nutrients which then become part of out very being. 

There is the saying that you are what you eat. As someone who enjoys trying new foods then you become more than just a person who can be stereotyped into one box or another. The more you are open to trying new foods the more you expand on who you are. Another saying that has become more and more common during the last several decades is that the world is growing smaller because the barriers of distance and communication are being broken all the time. In such a expanding world we have the opportunity to experience other cultures in the form of the different foods that are available. However I also see a black cloud on the horizon that one must keep a watch for. As with the melding of cultures we must also be vigilant to keep too much of a mix from diluting what are individual and unique cultures. Food once again plays a roll in this as an indicator. 

Driving down the road one would often times pass an ornate, ethnically oriental looking building that has the tag line, Chinese and american dishes. Why is it that we feel that we need to enter an establishment that is distinctly culturally oriented to serving dishes that are different from our own and expect to be served what is traditionally part of our own culture is a mystery. But then again sometimes you just need to make a buck and the food you serve is just another utilitarian aspect that will bring home the bacon to pay for the roof.

1/10th done.

It seems amazing how fast this quarter is progressing. It feels like it just started and its already a tenth done. It is possible that this is because I have not had any major assignments due so far but I guess that will come with time. 

On the other hand spring seems to be taking a while coming. For a few weeks It seemed that the grip of winter was over and that spring was in the air, not so. Old man winter seems to have reached from the icy past and has laid his grip so tight that spring is strangling. But it cant last too long. Sooner or later like the few flowers and buds that have broken through the grip spring too shall spring forth and bring about warm days and sunshine.

Its the weekend and at least I can look forward to some time off to go explore the surrounding hill sides and gage for my self the process of the break out.