Day 1: Raise Hope For Congo

How would you feel if someone you love were raped ... and raped repeatedly?

11/13/10 - First day of my 13 Days to Thanksgiving series. I fully understand that this is a very heavy subject. But, that's what happening right now, today, in Congo. To some, it's unimaginable for some of you might have heard this before in past conflicts throughout the world. It's being used as a tool by the militias to destroy communities and control the uprising of people. You can read one of many news articles reporting about the crisis here.

Short of picking up firearms to go fight or staging a violence protest, there are peaceful avenue you 'can' do something about it. So, today, I would like to talk about Raise Hope For Congo project. Can you help and make a direct impact? Absolutely!!! It can be as simple as you taking a hard look at your 'cell phone'. Interested? Play the video below to learn more.

Then, we can help ending the war in Congo by committing to buy only conflict-free electronic products. That's it! You don't need to donate anything. No elaborate call-to-action plan. Just a few clicks to let electronic makers know what you stand for and you have already done your part to help!!!

13 Days to Thanksgiving

Thirteen days to Thanksgiving is a blog inspired by my casual research this past Friday night into different non-profit organizations out there (all the while I am watching SAW VI on Netflix). What I discovered is that there are so many worthy organizations out there fighting and supporting great causes in and around the world aside from those already well known ones. My goal is not to advocate for one particular organization or group. Mainly, it is to introduce thirteen different organizations / advocacy groups out there and touch briefly on what they do. This, by no mean suggest that they are the only worthy ones. I just thought that in days leading to the day we celebrate and express gratitude to God, family, friends and our loved ones, it would be nice to recognize how lucky we are compare to many others out there.

Ultimately, it's my desire and hope that one or more of these will touch and inspire your volunteerism. Dive deeper inside and find out what it is that you stand for. What's worth fighting for? What are the things that really matter in life ... for you? At the very least, I hope that this blog will help you gain the appreciation of your family, friends, loved ones and people who really care about you, a lot more.

Obviously, this will be a rolling blog with a daily update until Thanksgiving day. So, stay tuned and check back to see my updates.

• 11/13/10: Day 1 - Raise Hope For Congo
• 11/14/10: Day 2 - Run For Something Better
• 11/15/10: Day 3 - Leave No Trace
• 11/16/10: Day 4 - Vicktory
• 11/17/10: Day 5 - Power Up Gambia
• 11/18/10: Day 6 - Tariku
• 11/19/10: Day 7 - The Next Joe
• 11/20/10: Day 8 - Coffee Me Home
• 11/21/10: Day 9 - "When I get to heaven, will I feel full?"
• 11/22/10: Day 10 - The Art of Elysium
• 11/23/10: Day 11 - 80%
• 11/24/10: Day 12 - Operation Homefront
• 11/25/10: Day 13 - Passing on the Gift

What Do You See?

Every so often, I would take a picture that I really like but do not know how to explain. A thousand words lost within the colors, curvatures, lights and shadows. Emotions buried ocean floor deep under a paper thin leaf. A picture I stared at ... for hours but failed to categorize or file into any albums taken from the trip.

I took this picture at Zion National Park at one of the bus stops during our hike day. The place was busy. A young boy next to me jumping up and down on that rock under a loving and watchful eyes of his dad. My teammates were busy refueling and taking care of business. Under all the commotions, here I was standing there looking at this one yellow leaf on a giant red rock that caught my eyes.

Afraid that the boy would jump his way and stomp on this leaf in the process, I quickly took two pictures and walked away. Never mind those curious eyes that were beaming at me. Ignoring the wondering faces silently questioning what I saw and why I took pictures of 'a' leaf on 'a' rock.

Exactly .... What did I see?

After the trip, I came back, worked on hundreds of pictures, adjusted, uploaded and shared them. All ... except this one. I tried to work on it. I made a few changes only to revert back and leaving it alone. I can't even bring myself to put the digital watermark on it.

Yes, the story of how the picture was taken is told. But, I am still unsure about what 'I' am trying to convey when I pressed the shutter. So.....

"What do you see?"

5:30AM

Couldn't sleep ... first morning on my hiking trip to Zion National Park. So, there's nothing else to do but to get up and walked outside searching ... for something to inspire me. It's still dark outside. Lightly breeze of clean and fresh mountain air. Sitting on a wooden chair out on the back porch gazing up. It's a beautiful night ... sliver moon surrounded by bright stars.

Inspired, but unequipped to properly portray the beauty seen and imagined ... I decided to wait for the sunrise, hoping for another moment to inspire me again. Sitting there ... feeling the wind gently brushing by. Watching the sky slowly painted with lighter shades of blue. I saw, the Pampas Grass nearby dancing and singing with the wind.

Perfect, I thought to myself. I finally found the texture that I could use to properly relay the beautiful elements currently surrounding me.

Focusing on the liveliness of the Pampas Grass, with the glowing and out-of-focus moon in the background ...

With every second passing by, the sky slowly changes colors and getting brighter ... and lighter.

Waited for this perfect moment to capture the 'wind breeze'. Can you hear it? Just listen ... carefully ...

Closing out with the simplistic beauty in the 'stillness' ... Morning finally arrived. Time to get moving and starts my adventures for the day. First order, breakfast ... here I come!!!

Bossy

I still remember .... the day I picked you up. While your siblings were busy feeding from your mother, you were jumping around saying hi and wanting to play with me instead. You were the ugliest, smallest, skinniest one compared to your chubby and well fed siblings. You were energetic, independent and curious, that's why I picked you.

I still remember ... you were the size of my hand on that first day. You came home with me on a public, non air-conditioned bus. But, you couldn't careless and just snoozed off in my hands.

I still remember .... your first meal. As it was too late when we came home that night and we didn't have anything, we fed you a coffee flavored milk ... you drank it without complaining and .. had diarrhea the very next morning.

I still remember .... the first night in the apartment. You cried and refused to go to sleep until I gave in and went down to sleep next to you on the floor. You tucked in between my chest and my arms and went right to sleep as soon as I was there with you.

I still remember .... you stayed up with me in all odd hours while I was studying for my college exams and wouldn't go to sleep until I did.

I still remember .... you competed with me on weekends to see who could sleep in longer where you wouldn't wake up until I did so first.

I still remember .... that your favorite meal was a fried chicken when you would thoroughly eat all including the bones.

I still remember .... you, running down the steps to greet me when I came home. You were like a fur ball bouncing up and down where I could barely see your eyes.

I still remember .... that you are the only dog I know with a severe case of "Separation Anxiety" syndrome and how much you hated being alone.

I still remember .... the first day you set paws in America how curious you were with the sudden change of temperature from hot to cool and the changes in your surroundings. It's funny how you adjusted in no time and just ran with it.

I still remember .... the day you got hit by a car in Manhattan, how much I sheded my tears and what you looked like after a surgery to repair your broken leg.

I still remember .... how you didn't quite know how to play with other dogs at the so called "dog hill" in Central Park. You were always more comfortable among human than dogs...

I still remember .... how you had no fear hopping in and out of a Subway or strolling around any city sidewalks.

I still remember .... you, dreaming wildly in your sleep... the sounds you made and your reactions were so amusing.

I still remember .... the time you licked my face profusely trying to find out what's wrong with me when I was very sick and had to go to an emergency room.

I still remember .... how you always took control and commanded other dogs whether it's a 90 plus pounds Bernese Mountain Dog or a less-than-ten pounds Chihuahua every where we go befitting your given name "Bossy".

.........................

It didn't matter where we went together, Bangkok, Trang, Narita, Portland, Phrae, Harrisburg, Manhattan, Queens, New Jersey, Rehoboth or Lewisburg. You were always a confident and self-assured dog, as long as we had each other. You were always by my side. You never complained except when you were left alone. It's amazing how we understood each other by just looking in each other's eyes.

That's how I knew...on Sunday that you told me you were ready to go.....I knew you were as sad to say goodbye as much I was. Thank you for all the good years we had together. I miss you... I miss you... But at least I know that you left in peace. And now, I am sure you are in dogs' heaven running around commanding other dogs there. Go Bossy go...

I'll see you again soon.....and..

I will ... always remember

..........................................

12.19.1990 - 5.19.2008

Wedding Presents

I had three goals to accomplish on my trip down to Alabama aside from the main goal of visiting my extended family. One is to get as many training rides in as possible; which I did, three days in a row. Another is to rediscover my passion for Landscape photography and capture some interesting pictures. Third is to find two wedding presents for two of my best friends' weddings that already occurred. In fact, one has already been over a year ago...

The world is full of people that make sense, methodical and logical. It's okay, needed and necessary. I am just .... not one of those. For some, the act of tardiness in this regard might seem like I do not care. For me, it's quite the opposite. I care ... enough that I need to look for that 'thing' that I feel is just right. Wedding Registry? I haven't yet been to one in my life so I have no idea what it looks like.

For me, buying a wedding present is slightly harder than normal because I am not buying just for one person but for 'that' couple. It must represents who & what they are and what they do. I take into consideration of how the piece(s) will fit into their home, the color, material and also the usefulness of the item in general. The more I know about them, the easier it gets, I guess? Still, I need the time to look for it. Since the work I do is not conducive to allowing me to do that, I usually have to wait until I am on vacation to do so.

The whole time on this trip, I juggled those three goals along with spending quality time with the folks down here. I went to countless art galleries and gift shops. Searching through shopping outlets in two different towns and went through two different beaches in search of those items. Second to the last day before I had to leave, I gave up everything and dedicated the whole day searching for the presents. Funny enough, the search brought me back to the very store in the town that I stayed at that I kept skipping over thinking that it's a furniture store.

Did I buy them and what did I buy? It's not that important, really. What's more important for me here was the effort I took in finding them. I certainly do not think that my approach is the right approach for everyone. Rather, I would like to encourage you to just 'be' yourself. Define who you are and just be. The world goes 'round because we are the same but different. I am fine with who I am and I like who you are just the way it is. Well, for the most part, as long as your way is not to be outwardly vicious and harmful to others.

Anyway, Let's just say that I left there the following day with all my goals accomplished!

Po' Boy

I have always been intrigued with this name. Why are they calling it a Po' Boy. Usually, for something so delicious, people always name them with wonderful, delicate, colorful or sensational names. But a Po' Boy?

First of all, I wouldn't have cared if what I had eaten wasn't so good. My host family here who has been so kind to me and always makes sure that I get to experience everything this lovely southern town has to offer. I had it the last time I was here and I made sure to go back there for my first lunch on this visit. It's that good! The place is called Market By The Bay Seafood Cafe. Just a simple small little restaurant with at most ten table-for-twos inside and about another six larger tables outside. Come during lunch time and you most likely will not find an available table to sit. I think they do substantially more take-out business than dine in.

Like most things these days, when in doubt, Google it (or Bing it if you are a Microsoft fan or Yahoo it if you ... never mind..). I found the explanation of Po' Boy on Wikipedia here. I am not going to bore you with the details as you can read them yourself on Wikipedia. But, since there are several possible origins of the name Po' Boy, I just want to point out that my host family here believes that it came from the words "Poor Boy".

What you see in the picture I took above was an Oyster Po' Boy. Conventional believe is that it can be anything fried seafood related but I am told that it's not necessarily true. My host family is determined to show me a Roast Beef Po' Boy sometimes before I leave. So, we will see. Anyway, my tips for you guys seeking a good Po' Boy are:

1. The bread must be thin and crusty outside but very soft and airy inside (Louisiana French Bread).
2. Protein must be 'lightly' breaded and fried (for fried version that is).

This is a simple but deadly delicious food. For my cycling peeps reading this blog, I am not saying that it's good for athletes on training to eat this everyday. But c'mon, it's soooo good you have to try it at least once in a while.