hi. things over here are busier than ever. but in other news, we decided to make use of our flickr account to share some photos. you can view them here!

no literally, i am on fire.

here is a haiku for your tuesday (thanks jos for the inspiration)

at the risk of sounding didactic, i offer the following pontification: ($8 sentence)

i know i'm ridiculously late to the party (who knows maybe its over already) but its come to my attention that not everyone is exactly like me. i know that some of you (alex and jos) are thinking to yourselves "neal is an idiot, but at least predictably so." jeff is thinking "what stunning insight into the world around us." the rest of you are probably thinking "duh." and that is the point. perspective. it is not unlike when you are drawing a geometrical picture and the things far away are small and the things right in front of you are big. my point is that the non-sameness of everyone, when acknowledged, forces (by definition) a change of perspective.

the benefit of this awareness is that it can lead to understanding (hollye), insight (jason), and ultimately wisdom (king solomon). the danger of this consideration is that it can lead to stereotyping (corey), bigotry (corey), and a small world view (corey).

the whole idea that we aren't the same, while pretty fundamental, can have some significant implications. take for instance the age old modus operandi of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." my father once mentioned to me it would be better put "do unto others as you think they would have done unto them." with our new found understanding of all of our un-sameness the second way seems to be a more superior way of making choices. that being said, the inherent weakness of the latter statement is that it (a) requires us to think and (b) requires us to understand people around us who are different than ourselves. neither (a) nor (b) are, generally speaking, trivial tasks. i believe, however, that they are tasks worth undertaking and if practiced and made a part of day to day existence it can lead us to a richer more three dimensional life-experience and may even lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.

note: if the words above haven't fully convinced you that i have a valid point, just keep in mind, i am a master's degree holder... so... yeah. deal with them apples.

another note: the following image is what i dreamed last night

neal has officially been "mastered." we had beautiful weather for both the class ceremony and the university ceremony. it all culminated with the song "new york, new york" by frank sinatra, a fitting capper to a two-year stint in the big apple.

congratulations neal.

click on "more" for more photos from the events:

my new favorite sport.

today was a day for going out. the choice of destination was some nutty furniture show in brooklyn nfo here (say the "n" like the letter and then sound out what "fo" sounds like). it was really fun to see such interesting furniture. it was like if we had been seeing a really fun tricycle race except for instead of a race it was a show and instead of tricycles it was furniture! well, anyway you get the idea. i took a lot some pictures to document our progress (similar to what sir edmund hillary did when he went to his daughter's ice-hockey games). needless to say there was a butt-ton of photos and i didn't really feel like trying to post them all. i did select a small subset which will be posted after the (more) link... or maybe before the (more) link i haven't decided. we also stopped by a little shop that had neato things and a guy named steve who was particularly friendly and had a haircut that was positively bully! anyway it was a blast. as an auxiliary note, we (on the way) saw naomi watts walking by looking very pregnant. to be honest i didn't even look twice but hollye filled me in later that it was a famous person. so i was very very very happy about the whole thing later. ok, fine. here are those pics that i said were coming...

lastly, hollye and i have decided to stay in NYC for the month of june. after that we just aren't sure. if you ask us about it we will probably have to just tell you what we know which is that we don't know. this means that those of you who haven't made it out to visit, (eric, julie, zac, dan, ross, jos) that there is still time to visit us. this isn't really an option, nor is it a debate, so just get your tickets and let us know. finally i'll leave you with a link to more pictures of our trip to brooklyn (including glamorous furniture shots!!!). I know the file is big (80Mb!!) but i really didn't have the energy or inclination to resize all of the photos for your browsing benefit... i guess ny just makes you hard (or in my case harder).

this link today. it has to do with the politics.

this site is a great example of what people are talking about when they say that we are at a changing point in politics due to the decreasing control that big media has over the dissemination of information.

also, while we are on the subject of politics...

3 days late...not too bad...maybe this picture will make up for it!

Slice one Green Plantain into 1/2" medallions and place into a heated skillet with vegetable oil.

Fry each side for 3 minutes, remove from pan onto paper towel.

Use a heavy mug and a clean plastic bag, place plantain in plastic bag and press down with mug to smash 1/2" medallions into 1/4" medallions.

Heat oil again, place smashed plantains into pan and fry until both sides are golden brown

Remove from oil, blot off excess oil, salt and pepper to taste and serve with guacamole, yum.

Alex, here are two more for our budding t-shirt conglomerate.

as most of you know (or don't know) i am currently in the midst of a hot and heavy job hunt. the following image is an interpretation (by my subconcious) of the entire process (including the never getting called back). also, and not relatedly, i've discovered that i can no longer consume nyc chinese food without feeling like never eating again... in fact... maybe the essense of nyc chinese food could be used as an appetite suppressant! maybe. lastly, i had a genius idea for a tattoo parlor name... ink inc.