another Labor Day, another Saguaro Nat'l Park RUN...AND a fusion-recipe

I've been back at work in the classroom for just over a month now...

and on this blessed day off, I woke up at 4:30 a.m.?!

...to join a thousand+ runners in Saguaro Nat'l Park...

...and this was the third year-in-a-row for me...

(My wife took the above photo--the red cap--that's me...

the Santa Catalina Mountains are in the background.)

I made my time goal (2 min faster than last year, solid middle-of-the-pack), and a fleet-of-foot-friend of mine won his age-division. Again! Our wives and a friend came along as cheering spectators. We had no idea they'd put together a sign--so just past mile 5, after the worst of the climbing (see elevation profile below), we read these words:

Got the t-shirt. 

Run in the desert regularly, and you'll definitely see roadrunners of the avian kind...

And here are a couple of graphics--the elevation profile and the route in the Rincon foothills:

 (from http://www.azroadrunners.org)

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Just a couple more random iPhone-photo shots...

While weeding in the backyard the other day, this caught my eye:

Looks like an underwater scene, eh? Cactus blooms still amaze me... 

And then last night,

our friend José-Luis made us his renowned ceviche.

The secret ingredient?

A dash of oyster sauce to complement

the Tapatío!

¡Viva fusion!

We made kimchi-pineapple-quesadillas to go with it.

A pre-race meal of champions, ¿no?

quick recipe:

KIMCHI-PINEAPLE-QUESADILLAS

--inspired by the Kogi taco-trucks of L.A.--

Use large flour tortillas.

For the filling:

coarsely chopped kimchi--the 'riper' the better

thin slices of fresh pineapple

(canned is o.k.)

shredded Mexican cheese

thin slices of pepper-jack cheese

Before folding and grilling,

sprinkle either toasted sesame seeds

or 'furikake' seasoning

on top of the cheesy-tangy filling.

Buen provecho & chap-su-se-yo!

the importance of being a rectangle...

In case you're interested, here's a link in the whole APPLE vs. SAMSUNG trail, which is being decided by jurors today:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/31/3207848/apple-vs-samsung-complete-trial-coverage

I love my iPhone...and I know that it's truly important to respect patents and copyright, etc. etc...
But, really--can you REALLY 'patent' or 'trademark' a rectangle-with-a-bottom-center-button?!

I mean, 'SUBWAY' can trademark 'SUBWAY'-sandwiches--but ANYone can make a 'SUBmarine'-sandwich, and no one gets all litiginous: "Hey--you can't make a long sandwich! MY sandwich is already long..."

Of course, sandwiches aren't as high stakes as smartphones...

lunchtime links to a chilling 1909 short story

Most of you know that for my day-job, I am a high school teacher. So, yes, I'm posting during the day, BUT I'm on my lunch break; I'm not stealing time from my employer...(are you?)

Anyway, so I'm reading this column on the NYTimes website, which includes a link to an essay on this science-writing website entitled "The Philosophical Roots of Science Fiction." And then within that fascinating essay is a link to the full text of a chilling short story, "The Machine Stops," written in 1909 by E. M. Forster, chronicler of Edwardian mores...

I'd no idea that he also wrote a bit of spookily prescient speculative-fiction.
(Disclaimer--A Passage to India, A Room with a View, Howard's End, The Longest Journey, and Where Angels Fear to Tread are among my favorite novels/films...)

So--want something to read on your lunch-break? Click on the link and check out "The Machine Stops." Then, later, when you send a text, update your facebook, navigate the blogosphere, check your e-mail, or steal a glance at Twitter, you'll wonder what E. M. Forster and his contemporaries would think of our world just over a century later...

What do we think of it?

This year's origins

Week number two of the school-year begins today. (And the heat continues--yesterday was a record high of 109; today should match it.)

Last year, I had the most-diverse group of students I've ever had. This year's list of countries is a few shorter than last August, but still--it shows how medium-size cities across the western U.S. are no longer defined solely by Anglo/Hispanic/Native American relationships...

So, the list:

U.S.

Mexico

Lebanon

Jordan

Iraq

Somalia

Ethiopia

Nigeria

Liberia

Sierra Leone

Côte d'Ivoire
Ghana

Sudan

Nepal

Vietnam

Marshall Islands

Bosnia

England

...eighteen countries...and then from within the U.S., students are hailing from at least as many states; coming from 'back east' to Tucson can be just as 'culture-shocking' as moving here from abroad...

I don't have any quotable gems from my students yet--too early in the school-year for hum-dingers such as "OMG, turkeys lay eggs?!" or "Hey meester, what do they speak in Spain?"--but surely, they will come...

Oh wait--yeah, the other day, a kid said: "Is 'Mexico City' a country?" Ahh, high school...

end of another summer-break...back from NM, back to work...

My summer break is over. Tomorrow morning, bright and early: day one of the new school-year with my students...

Briefly, a few photos...

I spent a few days in New Mexico last week--my first time to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos...A very full short trip, involving eating copious amounts of red and green chile, trail running along the Rio Grande, and admiring adobe architecture...More later, but tonight, just a few scenes, all iPhone shots; I haven't had time to sort through the photos from the 'real' camera...

 --just over the border from AZ into NW New Mexico--approaching the Zuni Pueblo...

--wildflowers near Enchanted Mesa, near the Acoma Pueblo...

--the iconic adobe church of San Francisco de Asis, in Ranchos de Taos... 

--bridge above the Rio Grande Gorge; 800 ft above the river... 

 --Taos Pueblo and Taos Mountain, under a threatening monsoon sky...

--19th c. French Romanesque Cathedral in Santa Fe; the steeples were never built...

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...and AFAR travel magazine is sponsoring another "Catch" contest;

here's a scene of a meal from last summer, in Sokcho, Korea,

and it just won one of the rounds of the contest--the "Eat" theme!

After this past spring's attempt at Condé Nast's "Dream Trip Contest," I'm trying again for free travel!
(To find out, alas, who won, click here.) So, S. and I can dream of getting to Europe again...to Belgium.


And the one below was a runner-up in the same contest's "Eat" theme--from Santa Fe last week:

I continue to be amazed at the possibility of discreet restaurant-shots with the iPhone...


Now, to bed--tomorrow's a school day: to work!

LE TOUR...Foix...summer turning things around

I'm not an avid reader of the Sports section of the newspaper...

but every summer I follow the stages of the Tour de France...

Today's stage ends up in the town of Foix, in the Pyrenées near the Spanish border. 

I spent a few days here once--so if you're curious to know what the place looks like, 

here's a street scene in the old part of town:

 ...and up in the mountains nearby...

...and voilà, the map of this year's Tour de France

(from http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2012/us/)

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...and I'm still playing around on my iPhone with photos 

from our trip to the NW...

Here are a couple of scenes (well, just one scene, twice)

from this past Monday--

reflection of Cadet Peak in Goat Lake

in the central Cascades:

Residents and visitors alike bemoan the seemingly eternal grey of the Pacific NW;

summer turns things around, though...

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And...AFAR magazine recently published a little interview/profile with me!

In it, I briefly talk about iPhones and travel photography, among other things...

So, who comes to Arizona? (and back from the NW)

I flew in yesterday afternoon; back from Seattle to Tucson after nine days in the Pacific Northwest...

Reading the local paper this morning, this graph stood out:

So, now we know the top ten countries who send their citizens down this way...

Two figures stick out to me in particular--

a milion and a half French and over a million Koreans

come here every year? Wow.

It would be interesting to know which states send the most 'snowbirds' to Arizona; 

every winter I see a proponderance of license plates from Washington...

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This was the longest visit 'back home' since I moved to Tucson five years ago. My wife's been back to see her family once on her own...and we've been back together for several weddings...

But this was the first trip for me that didn't involve a 'special occasion.' Every time we visit, we wish we could just 'fold the map' and bring Seattle closer to Tucson--family, friends, places, foods...

For tonight, just a few snapshots:

--my new favorite mountain panorama--Aasgard Pass, Dragontail Peak and Lake Colchuck in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of the Central Cascades--hiked up here the day before yesterday. Wow.

 --the taste of summer in the Pacific NW--Rainier cherries in Pike Place Market:

 --kayaking on Portage Bay, trying to dodge boat traffic and be polite voyeurs among the houseboats:

--Cadet Peak and Goat Lake in the central Cascades east of Granite Falls, this past Monday:

--the lush temperate rain forest; mushrooms on the way:

--ferry, sea, snowcapped peaks...looking toward the Olympic Peninsula from Seattle's waterfront:

 --foxglove and evergreen:

We stayed with friends most of the time, but on the first night, we stayed in a little hotel downtown; this was the view from one of the windows in our room--its top temporarily painted 'galaxy gold' in honor of its 50th anniversary, a glimpse of the Space Needle:

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...and last week,

this was on the AFAR.com homepage:

...from a year ago, in Seoul...