why i hate facebook

1. Too many people think this is a good and fast way to communicate with friends, despite already having e-mail or mobile contact info
2. Your relatives can post unflattering pics of you and the schmuck you dumped two days ago can use it as ammunition to make himself feel better
3. Bloody apps! Bloody apps! I don't want no freakin' apps!
4. The funwall makes it possible to bring about the re-emergence of that which is hated of all things: the chain-mail, without the consequences of the spam blocker
5. You always get notices some message is waiting for you on facebook, but then you can't login to check it because the server is too damn busy
6. Its banned at work
7. Your younger cousins who look up to you can see pics your friends posted of you in interesting situations
8. People believe they have real friends because they can count their numbers on a website
9. People drop big news like changes in relationship status on their facebook profile pages
10. Its killin' the romance ;)

new obsessions

Have begun this year, which will make the whole 'saving money' New Year's resolution a little difficult. It started with a introduction to ice climbing in January with members of the Potomac Mountain Club (also known as the Mountaineering chapter of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club). A couple weekends later I made a long drive with two firefighters on MLK day weekend for two days of trying to be as graceful as our guides while ascending ice water falls. Knowing I was in for some fat paychecks with my upcoming deployment, I spent ridiculous amounts of money for what people were told me were the 'top-of the line' in personal ice climbing equipment. I took these fresh out of the package tools and boots up with me to Whistler, British Columbia in March, hoping for late-season ice, but alas it rained, and much had come down. So it wouldn't be until next year.

Although I had my obsession from the previous year, trad rock climbing to get me out of city and chasing up rocky pillars while D.C.'s prolongued summer (practically into November) to keep me occupied, I confess, when in October the weatherman warned of the first frost, that night I went to sleep and dreamt of ice.

In fact earlier this month, I was in Hawaii for a work trip (rough I know), after hearing my sister abandoned housesitting for me and left my cat alone, plus the phone call to hear it was snowing, I dreamt again that night of ice (of ice covering Carderock of all things!) and booked my plane ticket home early. Of course I was being silly both those times.

This past weekend I booked a trip to the Adirondacks to introduce my sister to ice climbing with help from guides. What should have been a nine hour drive, turned into a 12 hour drive. Sunday was practically balmy at the crag, and my new tools and new crampons went into the ice like a knife into room-temperature butter. By the afternoon, we a had a steady light drizzle and one of our next climbs, involved a few 'mixed' moves (on rock and moss). My gore-tex shells were completely wet (thankfully keeping me very dry). After a moment of contemplating the ice, a bit slushy, under the 3mm deep waterfall, I plunged up and ahead. We were all ready for some dry clothes, a warm room, blanket, and a mug of a hot drink and quickly bailed off that first pitch. My sister did not want another watery escapade the next day so we cancelled the second day with a promise to be back after the New Year. I almost went back this weekend but with the forecast still warm for the north country, I stuck it out here.

taming women

Having seen Kiss Me Kate, both the movie and the musical performed on stage, I was ill-prepared for the un-watered down Shakespeare Theater Company's "the Taming of the Shrew." I was sitting with three other women, all of us (or at least most of us) self-proclaimed feminists and we often looked aghastly at each other at the rather physical 'courtship' scenes between Petruchio and Katherina. And let's not get into her monologue. In any case, before I walked into the theater, I wish I had read director Rebecca Bayla Taichman's comments, namely

"Instead of ironing out the play’s contradictions, I want to open and stretch them out. Kate and Petruchio truly love each other, and yet Petruchio may really have damaged Kate. He can save her while also stealing something sacred from her ... And Kate can mean what she says in that gorgeous and very complicated speech, while also being bitterly aware of how she is performing a male fantasy for a patriarchal world."

"The play should make you swoon and want to scream with rage. It should make you uncomfortable and impossibly entertained. It should make you ask questions about what marriage is, about how we love each other, how we collude to create an economy of love and a marriage market. It should make you question how we often prize financial reward and stellar reputation over deep human connection, and why we desire power. "

In the end, it makes me wonder about how much people expect to be changed and change their loved ones. Maybe I've always kept the philosophy those that are meant for us, understand us and love us for who we are, and not what they have made us become ... and one can't change unless they themselves really want to.

an idea for our cabbies

In the 3+ years I've lived in this city and taken a cab just so I could avoid losing a precious parking spot on the street, I've heard cab drivers increase the fare by a dollar twice. When confronted by my accusation they're trying to rip me off again, they usually cite high gas prices. Recently D.C. cabbies were considering strikes to protest the decision to go to a fare system. Maybe, if gas prices are such an issue, they should replace their old Marquis and Buicks with a car that guzzles less gas. Like they are doing in N.Y.

M5

Not the car but the band. What a great rocker Adam Levine of Maroon 5 is. My sister and I had the pleasure of seeing the hybrid pop/rock/R&B band perform at the Verizon center. The arena was packed ... mostly with women I was sure. We were seated next to a young boy and his father ... we saw many parents with the their children. Levine tried to get D.C. to sing, and clap, but we are a lazy audience indeed. But its cute to see how the 'cigarette-lighter-song' has become more eco-health friendly with the 'cell-phone illuminated glow song.' D.C. responded well to Levine's declaration of love for its denizens. An hour and 15 minute show, done by 10:30 PM, ensured most of the teenagers in the crowd were home and not too sleep deprived for school the next morning.

i'm back

Coming home from Iraq is a strange thing. My employer had given me at least three copies of pamphlets describing expectations when coming home, from feeling depression, to feeling anxiety, etc. We even had a powerpoint lecture on it. I was not really prepared for what I felt when I came back. I wanted to return to Baghdad! I felt a little bit like Jack on the season finale of Lost, although not that desparate. For a while I moped to my best friends how much I disliked D.C. and how I wanted to move somewhere else. I didn't bother having any welcome back festivities, but naturally friends of mine figured out I was home and would coax me out. I continued with work, but more of a miser than usual. I considered a long-distance relationship, which was completely out of the ordinary for me. But thankfully, soon realized (well after about almost three months), that I missed living in D.C., and I was glad and happy with my life. Woohoo! Now to only see how Chopingal is ...

crazy but not insane

The blog is becoming re-active (but we'll see how long this lasts). Mostly because I'm enroute to Baghdad for work so now while in Baghdad I will do my best not to write about work.

Right now I'm too exhausted to be excited or nervous about working in Baghdad. I know I'm definitley looking forward to it. When a lot of my family and friends heard that I was going to work there they immediatley assumed that my work was forcing me to go, when in fact I volunteered. I guess its hard to get people to see I'm not crazy for volunteering. When the U.S. first started talking about the war, I was completely against it. I didn't believe Gen. Powell's testimony to the U.N. and I didn't think the evidence for the case Saddam having WMD was strong, in fact I thought it was very weak. Now that the U.S. is completely embroiled in Iraq, and it really is the top foreign policy issue for the U.S., and since I've always had an interest in the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, it is a pretty natural career choice. Also, although this war is a mess made by people I disagreed with, I do believe this is a mess the U.S. has to take responsiblity for and although I may not be the smartest person or someone who can fix this problem, rather that waiting in the sidelines and complaining about it, I am taking the opportunity to do something about it. I have friends in the military who are serving in the front lines and this war has taken an enormous toll on their lives and their loved ones (some people say ... aren't they volunteer? but come on, given the choice to go to war or go to jail is really not about volunteering). The orphans, widows, and emotionally and physically impaired survivors of this war on both sides is heartbreaking. I've always been drawn to helping others, and I wouldn't be going if I thought the danger was so high, but I'm confident my heart is in the right place. I may not be able to accomplish peace in three months, but I hope I can influence even in a minute way to keep things from becoming its absolute worse.

'First Ascent' trailer

FIRST ASCENT DVDs on sale now at www.senderfilms.com First Ascent, the highly acclaimed new film from Peter Mortimer and Sender Films, is now for sale on DVD. In his follow up to the award-winning Return2Sender, Mortimer has created a movie about the legendary routes that have never been climbed – and the dirt bag heroes that climb them. First Ascent is a global romp with climbing’s modern-day pioneers, from the sea cliffs in Thailand to the high Himalayas, and from the scary depths of the Black Canyon to the buildings of Hollywood. Big laughs, huge falls, hopes, fears and truly radical feats.