from prague

Hi. Im in Prague listening to the shopkeepers speak Arabic, typing on a Czech keyboard, and speaking English on skype, and trying out phrases in Russian, French, German, and more.

And thats a little taste of the internationalism of the tournament, this city, and my trip so far. Berlin really impressed me... for its urban planning, street culture, museums, bars, and general good feel. I only spent two nights there but they were well spent. Then, after nearly missing the train out of Berlins main station, we traveled to Prague... the group of people im with constantly changes... regardless, chain lightning and other friends, teams from all over the world have descended on prague.

After three days of competition, Chain has only played four games. Not complaining. The games were hard fought and good spirited. But the rain this afternoon seems to have thrown an extra wrench in the wheel of this already sputtering attempt to organize thousands of fans, players, volunteers, etc. Well wait to see how the rain cancellation plays out in ease of shuttling, playing, and generally surviving the next few days.

The majority of Chain was out boat racing Sunday night, having a good time with some other American teams... the fourth of july went unnoticed otherwise. Im looking forward to the party being hosted by revolver tonight, as well as trading night tomorrow night, and more socializing later in the week at the tourney party, the dorms hotels, etc.

Wish i could post some of the dorm, campus, stadium, field, player, and other pictures. Soon, in sha allah.

Blog round-up

Coming up on 11 months into the year, I often find it worth mentioning the Moleskine Journal Around the World project. Props to Angela for keeping the Project, and her friends, in the light lately. We're really excited about what could come back from across the six continents and seven seas.

Julia B has decided to pick up and move again. Cali was an experiment, Philly was the interim, and next is Hotlanta. I think Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris have a song waiting for you... it starts with "Welcome to..."

Warning.

Good for you, Lauren, for recognizing that you'd rather not be blogging when there's so much other Peace Corps, community, and personal stuff to do in Guatemala. Also, for those who have an itch to mail somebody something, a care-package wish list is on her page's right sidebar.

I'm thankful for y'all and our keeping in touch.

Printing Less

If you've read this more than a few times, or have known me for more than a few minutes, you'll probably know that I try to be environmentally concsious. I pick up after group lunches, separating trash from recycling if possible. I'll re-use plastic cups and try re-washing plastic utensils at work; and so on and so forth.

But one of the things I've been resistant to is reading all news and things on the computer screen. I would say I get the majority of my news and periodicals online. But for many of those, I opt to print them and read the hard copies instead of enjoy on the computer screen. 

Several years ago, Julia told me that her office was going paperless. Here are my main skepticisms of an effort like that, which is tied to my tendency to print instead of read online: 

1. how do you keep files with you when you want or all the time? 
2. how do you take notes?
3. how do you refer quickly to things like directories, which are constantly available, say on a bulletin board next to the computer?
4. how do you connect with people off-line (not just people who are currently logged off, but people who don't have access to computers or the internet at all)?
5. how do you keep from damaging your eyes with constant reading from the computer screen?

I intend to interview Julia about where her office is right now in their paperless effort (please comment about it). But short of that interview, I'll answer those few questions as a new advocate of paperless as best I can.

1. Keep files with you all the time with: laptop/notebook computers, personal digital assistants (see stolen image above), high-tech meeting spaces, etc
   
2. Take notes: Low-tech ways like cut-paste word processing and mixing up fonts within the same document, higher tech ways like Track Changes within documents, short-hand word processing, and more
3. Refer quickly to directories/bulletin board stuff: wisely sort files and folders
4. Connect with people off-line: don't know
5. Avoid damaging eyes: get a glare decreaser

Just a couple hours ago, I printed what I hope is my last article from online to off-line; the article is about dead-lifting. From now on, I will work on going paperless for news and more. Or at least I'll try reading my news on the computer screen, if not totally paperless.

Note: I do not have a pda and am not endorsing them. The picture is included to give an idea or how to go paperless.

Where I'm At - and a Call for Book Suggestions

You know that terrible ad campaign that some cell phone company is running with the constant 'Where you at?' line? Well its annoying. Cause its a quick (twist on the) common phrase that I want to use without advertising some cell phone company.

Anyway, I'm at work. And for those of you thinking, I can't believe you blog from work... let it be.

In addition to being at work, I'm at a point where I'm looking for more cultural exposure... music, books, exhibits, activism, people, and so on. As ya know, I've blogged before on my favorite authors, books, music, and so on.

And now I'm back on the block. I joined Shelfari a while ago but that got old quick. Facebook is good for quick links to knowledge and meaningful stuff, like this commencement speech. Google reader is hot. But the press and internets can only occupy me for so long.

So I'm callin you to make some book suggestions... fiction and non-fiction, short and long, new or classic, and other categories with binary options. Bring 'em out! (below is an image of culture)

How to enjoy the web

Friends,

I have here a few links to things I think are interesting on the internet. The categories precede the lists.

News:
news.google.com
indymedia.org


Progressive Stuff:
www.change-links.org
thenation.com


Blogs:
thinkprogress.org
myDD.com
many more...


Mail services:
mail.yahoo.com
mail.google.com


Interactive sites:
secondlife.com
myspace.com


Please share your additions to the above sections.