Sod it!

Few things get me choked up faster than reading or hearing about Sudden Oak Death. There's apparently a few federally funded projects involved in "combatting" SOD, but they seem to be geared toward replacing dead trees with SOD-resistant ones. They're basically giving up on controlling the fungus that causes the disease or protecting nonresistant trees from its effects, because, well, they haven't been able to figure out any way to do so.

I'm a tree hugger. I cannot lie. I like trees better than people. Well, most people, anyway. *ponders*

Even Sonic Youth cannot drown him out

My coworker's voice is so loud that I cannot concentrate on my work when he is talking - especially when he is on the phone. The other day I walked to the other end of the office - probably a good 20 yards or so - and could still hear him talking to a user on the phone, even though he's in his cubicle and there's no line-of-sight between him and the hallway. LOUD. My headphones only slightly obscure his voice, unless I crank them up to Deafening.

I'm disappointed but not surprised about James Kim. I don't know what else to say.

Anil-san runs an errand

This little illustration totally cracks me up whenever I open to this chapter in my Japanese textbook:

What gets me is that the text completely ignores the parts where "Anil-san spots the pretty girl," and "Anil-san forgets all about mailing his letter."

Oh, by the way, happy 100th blog entry.

Wilderness

I've been closely following the story of James and Kati Kim (latest update as of this post). For those of you who might be reading this from outside of the Bay Area, these two and their two daughters, ages 7 mos. and 4 years, got lost in the mountains of Oregon over Thanksgiving weekend, and were not heard from until yesterday, when searchers found Kati and the girls, unharmed, in their car. James had apparently left on foot to search for help 2 days before and has not yet been found.

I find that over the last couple of years, I've become a lot more sensitive to these kinds of stories - to "human interest" stories in general, I guess. It used to be, any time a "tragedy" would come on the news, I'd just roll my eyes and say, "These things happen." Now, though, I find myself very much sympathizing with the subjects of these stories, and thinking about how much the people close to them must be hurting. I've even teared up while listening to this sort of story on NPR in the car. What's with that? Is it because I'm getting older and, at least in theory, more mature? Because I'm married and thinking about having a family of my own?

The Kims are about my age (James is 35, Kati is 30) and what the E-i-C and I call an "Asite" couple (Asian man and white woman, as opposed to a "Whasian" couple like the E-i-C and I. Despite living in SF, we don't yet have a term for Asian and white homosexual couples of either sex); he's a tech editor with CNET and she runs a couple of boutique shops in SF (one of which, Doe, we have shopped at occasionally), so there's a lot of potential for identifying with them. Heck, we drove through that same area on our own road trip to the Pac NW three years ago, and stopped for lunch at the Roseburg Diner, while they stopped for dinner at the Denny's in Roseburg the night they got lost.

I've been doing a lot of self-examination, but I'm not sure I've come up with any answers.

Speaking of examinations and answers, my Japanese final is tomorrow, and I'm procrastinating studying. To work!

But not before I also mention this exciting article:
Permanent moon base planned

Toukyou Tauwaa

The E-i-C got in safely last night, and has slept all day today to regain her strength. The sickness is gone, but not eating for two days has taken a lot out of her. I'm hoping she will be back to normal tomorrow - just in time for her next business trip on Monday!

I've been busy all day studying for this quarter's Japanese final. So much to study! I feel better about this one than I did last semester, though. Hopefully I will not freeze up during the 'oral production' section like I did last quarter. Maybe I should have a drink beforehand.

In related news, the design of the new Tokyo Tower has been unveiled. The E-i-C is a big fan of the old Tokyo Tower (and also Sutro Tower here in SF, though she professes to hate the Kyoto Tower). I'm curious to know what her take will be on this, though I suspect she will bemoan the loss of her old favorite - she's like that.

Friday Notes

The E-i-C, in Las Vegas attending a company conference, has apparently come down with food poisoning after eating at the company-provided buffet. She's supposed to fly back this evening; we'll see what the hotel doctor says. But considering that she's "out-of-network" outside of California, and that all the stuff on the Internet that I can find suggests she's not in any real danger, I would prefer her to try to fly home so I can take care of her here.

In other news:
NEWS ANALYSIS Best not to take Bush too literally: What he says isn't necessarily what he plans to do
Translation: The President lies. Don't believe him.
Thanks, Chronicle. I was wondering about that.