Birds

After my recent trip to Trinidad, it would appear I have bee bitten by the bird watching bug. While in San Jose I saw this humming bird taking a bath in a water fountain. Not sure what kind it is, but it seemed very interested in the water.

San Francisco

This past week I went out to San Jose and managed to go out to dinner in San Francisco with a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in well over a year! Anyway it was fun catching up with him. Its always fun driving around SF what with all the hills some of them are quite steep. Parking on a hill is a very interesting process. We went out to dinner at Zarzuela, a restaurant that my wife and I visited once upon a time when we were still dating. The food this time around was not as great as I remembered. Not sure if I changed or the place did. Just across from the restaurant was a Swensen's an icecream shop that I was not familiar with. My friend however couldn't wait to go for dessert. Apparently he is a big fan but the one near his house closed and now he has to go without. So we went and he got his favorite flavor, Swiss Orange Chip.
Certainly looks just yummy, however it tastes like Orange and Chocolate, which I guess is the point. I guess I should state , I'm not a fan of fruit and chocolate so this was really really bad. However, my friend thoroughly enjoyed it. And I guess he's not the only one. Someone actually set out to recreate this stuff . To each his own I guess.

Not enough humans?

Recently I was watching PBS, NOVA scienceNOW, on a Friday night I believe. Yeah nerd right? So anyway Neil deGrasse Tyson who hosts the show, and who I think is really great at breaking down the whole astro-physics-space-time-string-theory thing, introduces a story about bacteria. The story is about Bonnie Bassler aka the Bacteria Whisperer. Mrs Bassler has discovered some really cool ways in which bacteria communicate. She says that there are 600 types of bacteria on your teeth each morning! Yuck. (err no honey its not the morning breath, its the billion bacteria). And that the bacteria communicate with each other using some molecular compounds. And that these compounds are used by all types of bacteria. The interesting thing she showed is that in some bio-luminescent bacteria, they don't begin to glow until there are enough of them in place. Too little and they just sit there, but after some magic number of generations have grown and are 'talking', they all begin to glow at the same time. Its this 'talking' that makes you sick. So now she's on a hunt to find ways to limit their capacity to communicate and reduce our dependence on harsh antibiotics. Its a completely fascinating topic; as bacteria go anyway.

So it got me wondering, what if there aren't enough humans in the world 'talking'? What if we're all just waiting around for the human population to get large enough that something clicks and we begin to do our equivalent of 'glowing'. I know we're supposed to be all about reducing the human population growth. But maybe there's more for us out-there, we just need more of us.

I was also wondering if we are covered by so much bacteria, is it possible that we are not affected by them in some imperceptible ways? A recent article in the Economist talks about the recent science on the brain and the questions raised on Free Will. If bacteria make up so much of what we are, and they communicate, is it possible that also affect who we are? If the brain is as easy to manipulate as described in the article and our personality along with it, perhaps we are more creatures of a bacterial mind than we think.

I also recently watched a documentary on one of the DVDs that came with my Ultimate Matrix DVD set. Thanks Trini-wife! Anyway the material got me excited about the Matrix again, they show that there was so much more philosophy about Free Will and other concepts in the Matrix. Much more than I realized.

What do you think about Free Will?

Children of Men

I saw the movie Children of Men this weekend. Trini-wife and I decided on the spur of the moment to go see a movie and after looking at what was available, picked it as it got an 84 from Metacritic. An excellent score for a movie. We didn't know anything about it (deciding to skip reading the reviews). All that mattered (at the time) was that my wife saw Clive Owen was starring in it and so she was sold.

Good thing too, having seen the movie first and then reading the reviews after; I would recommend you not read any of the reviews as they may bias or tell you things about the movie that may ruin it. Needless to say its well worth the high reviews. Clive Owen is funny and believable throughout the movie, Michael Caine steals the show in parts and the cinematography is spectacular! Its probably worth watching for the camera work alone.

Its based on the book of the same name by P.D. James. And there are some parts I wish the movie expanded upon so I'm not sure if this was a failing in the book too. If you liked V for Vendetta then you'll probably like this movie. It also reminds me of 28 Days Later. Ok, that's all I can tell you without going into more detail on the movie.

Go see it, tell me what you think.

Too Many Books

A friend of mine recently gave me a copy of The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby as a Christmas gift. Its a collection of Nick Hornby's essays for the Believer Magazine. In the essays he writes about the books he has read for that month. He also tells you what books he bought and intended to read but didn't.

In reading the reviews and Nick's often funny and sarcastic insights, I found the Spree to be just what I wanted. Something fun, but still informative but not Business Book / Non-Fiction informative. It was liberating to see that my wife and I aren't the only ones who buy books and then let them sit on the book shelves; Unopened and silently mocking us every time we walk by. The intention is always there to read the books, its just that cleaning lint from the dryer always seems to come first. Well at least Nick has an excuse, he does this for a living and can be forgiven for not reading all the books he buys. We are just busy with laundry.

Of course what the Spree gives in redemption, can also lead to downfall. I've gained two more titles to read (and added to my Amazon Wish list) after reading the reviews. They are Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. This looks to be just a downer of a book but still moving. The other is How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered The World by Francis Wheen. A look at the lack of reason and enlightenment in today's world. Of course I also signed up for the Believer magazine too, can't wait to add that to the magazine pile in the corner.

Nick also likes Charles Dickens a lot and it made me think about reading the classics. You know other authors like Dickens, such as T.S. Elliott, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and so on. But there's only so much room on the bookshelf and the damn lint won't clean itself you know.

Anyway, do you remember the last book you read? Who the main characters were and what happened to them?... Yes? Well look at you with the big brain... Nick mentions that he doesn't always remember what he read. I guess excusable for a book reviewer, not so much for someone like me, but I must say not all books are worth remembering. And I'm sure there are more of those 'read and forget' people like me out there. Be proud, we have the benefit of being able to read a good book like it was new again.... and again..... and again..... well hopefully its stuck by the 3rd reading.

Now I must get back to my laundry.

P.S. Did you see the title of the latest Harry Potter book is out?

Fauna in Trinidad

Visiting my uncle's couple of acres in 'the country' in Tabaquite I came across this caterpillar. Not sure what kind it is but looks pretty unfriendly with the spikes. It was small though about 2 inches long.



While in Trinidad I was able to visit the Asa Wright Nature Center that is located in the Trinidad Northern range. Here the center is able to show lots and lots of birds to avid bird watchers in their natural habitat. During our visit we saw about 15 different species, which is pretty good considering we got there later in the day when most birds are in the shade. One of the more notable birds was the Bell Bird. It makes a really odd sound much like a bell. The following two videos show it in action.

Happy New Year!

Well its a new year and I went on vacation to Trinidad and Tobago, sort of visit the homeland. It had been two years since my last visit to T&T so I was due. I had a great time and chose not to check email or post to my blog or surf the web for the two weeks. Although I must confess I did check my Fantasy football scores. For those who care, I lost in the championship game in one league and placed 6th in another league. Well there's always next year I guess.

Anyway happy new year! Where did you ring in the new year? I was in Tobago at Pelican Reef with my family. There was a live singer and DJ with an odd mix of songs from U2 to Soca to Reggae to 80s classics. We did the count down thing and then went to bed around 1 AM.


We started off 2007 on Pigeon Point beach. If you go to Trinidad and/or Tobago make sure to spend a day at Pigeon Point, its the best part of the islands. My wife and I now want to end 2007 on a beach somewhere, to make a nice bookend to the year. I've posted some pics from T&T on Flickr.

Its funny how when you haven't seen members of your extended family for a while how they say you've changed. As far as I know I haven't changed much since the last time I saw them. But I got conflicting accounts. One aunt said 'I lost weight', another said 'I gained weight'. A cousin said I look more like my mom now, but an uncle said I looked more like my dad. Still other members said I looked younger while some claimed I looked older. I was even quizzed on my hair style (which hasn't changed in years), 'Was it new?' All of this makes you wonder if its worth the effort to make yourself presentable in public, after all it appears people see what they want to see regardless of what you do (or don't do).