Our photographer Kevin has posted a few preview pics of our wedding on his blog here. Thank you to all that could attend. More to come!

… and I thought to myself.. I have a pretty cool job.

That is all.

I can understand to some degree, why people would feel fed up and no longer care. A multitude of incidents ranging from the stolen election of 2000 to diebold’s “malfunctioning” electronic voting systems make it feel like the elections are rigged. On top of that, the complete domination of the presidency, house, and senate further propagate the feeling of disillusionment my friends (who are not surprisingly largely progressive) feel.

Of the 10-15 people I asked who didn’t vote, the overwhelming response was either that their vote doesn’t matter, so why bother. In an odd way, it makes me think of Voltaire’s famous quote: “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible”. Taking the quote a little bit further, it’s equally true that if no snowflake ever shows up, an avalanche cannot occur. No change happens if all of the little snowflakes, all 10-15 of them, stay home because they think they don’t matter.

I’ll admit, I’m exhausted too. I care too much, and probably out of self interest. During the last election, a friend quoted a chapter from Moby Dick called “The Monkey Rope”. You can find it here.

It was a humorously perilous business for both of us. For, before we proceed further, it must be said that the monkey-rope was fast at both ends; fast to Queequeg’s broad canvas belt, and fast to my narrow leather one. So that for better or for worse, we two, for the time, were wedded; and should poor Queequeg sink to rise no more, then both usage and honor demanded, that instead of cutting the cord, it should drag me down to his wake. So, then, an elongated Siamese ligature united us. Queequeg was my own inseparable twin brother; nor could I any way get rid of the dangerous liabilities which the hempen bond entailed.

This is a year where you can make a difference. So regardless of who you vote for, get out there and do it. Quit being so apathetic and make your voice heard.

As you may have gathered from my previous two posts, Taiwan was incredible. From eating delicious food and fruit daily, to singing karaoke for 6 hours straight, to strolling the night markets, the place had a feeling unlike anything I’ve experienced here in the US. It was beautiful.

Rather than try (and fail) at going into any kind of detail about some of the adventures we had, I’ll talk about just one… the Shrimping experience. In Taipei, we went to a “restaurant” where you rent a fishing pole by the hour and catch live shrimp out of a big pool. We did just that for three hours while sipping on various libations including Taiwan beer, star-fruit drink, boss coffee, and Pocari sweat. It was like heaven on earth.

When your time is up, you can pay them to cook the shrimp for you, or fire up the provided broiler and do it yourself. We obviously chose option B, and they were delicious! I did feel bad for the shrimp when they started flapping around trying in vain to escape the heat of the broiler, but we enjoyed them thoroughly, so their deaths were not in vain.

For those of you who are following along at home, I failed to gain 10 lbs while I was there. In fact, I lost a pound or two. I’m baffled.

Plenty of pictures for your viewing pleasure in the gallery!

Time’s up… time to go party again (who needs the internet here anyway?)

This morning after getting here, we walked around the streets and found a little hole in the wall place to have a chinese breakfast consisting of soybean milk, “oily sticks” (think fried dough), and chinese steamed pork bun. Oh man.. The food here is so good. If I don’t come back 10 lbs heavier, I will have failed.

So that’s how I spent the first 2 hours here. I’ll leave you with a an image of the first store we walked past after getting out of the cab. Offensive Engrish go!

Tonight, I’m flying to Taiwan.

Next week I’ll be eating delicious food.

Life is good.