Virtual Palaver

Spanish - Part 2

2011-02-28T09:16:00.000-08:00

I would like to think that my spanish is improving as I stay here longer but the switch from Chile to Argentina has been rough! The people in BA speak very quickly, and use so much slang. Also, instead of Tu, they use the Vos. Very hard to get used to! Meanwhile, I notice that argentians often seem to misunderstand each other and constantly ask for a repeat of previous phrase. Which makes me feel better. People compliment my spanish, which makes me feel good because I often feel so inarticulate. I think they are happy that I try. I look forward to returning to Chile where it is easier for me to communicate. Ciao!

BA - Where to start?

2011-02-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

I am having a fantastic time in Buenos Aires. I cannot imagine being happier. It is hot and muggy and the streets were made for walking. I am walking many miles each day and loving all the sights. I stop for cafe con leche or a coke. And sit and watch people. I see a lot of tourists and probably regular old argentinians. The people of Argentina come from all over the world (but many european origins) so it isn´t that different from home. I don´t often see people of african origins, which for me is unusual. There are more people of african heritage here than in Chile but to me it is strange to not see more black people. The buildings here are incredible. Huge and regal and detailed. I can stare at an old government building for hours because it is so rich in architectural detail. People are mostly friendly. I have had a few snotty waiters but I usually wear them down with my smile and little quips. This is an amazing City. Love being here.

Buenos Aires

2011-02-25T06:14:00.000-08:00

I survived the long, overnight bus ride which featured 5 brazilian frat boys, a bingo tournament, lots of rain, two stupid movies, and thankfully a fair amount of sleep. The seats do recline all the way down and I slept okay. And now, I am here in amazing, beautiful, historic Buenos Aires! Truly I had forgotten all the magnificent architecture, the plazas, the cafes, everything. It is so, so pretty. And I am excited to take the subway and see those old stations. Also, the weather is lovely here. Yay! After the cold rain in Mendoza, the lovely sun is a welcome friend.

Over the river and through the woods

2011-02-24T05:05:00.000-08:00

I took the bus yesterday from Santiago to Mendoza. So, a trip through the Andes. The views are really spectacular, especially from the upper deck of the bus. I had remembered these kinds of buses being very luxurious, sadly my bus was kind of dirty and not so nice. But the seat did recline quite a bit and I got a window seat. The wait at the Chilean/Argentinian border is really long. Would you believe 3 hours? So, people get out of the bus and walk around and buy cookies. I snoozed because my bus seat was in the sun and it was really warm and comfy. When I arrived in Mendoza, I was immediately reminded of how much more organized Chile is than Argentina. It took forever to find a money change place and the guy gave me a bunch of torn up bills. I had to really pounce on him to give me clean money. My hotel is very nice. But now I have a free day and it is raining. Hard. I am not so intrepid as to walk all over a new place in the rain. I think I will end up at a museum. We´ll see! Tonight I leave for Buenos Aires.

Living the vida loca

2011-02-21T07:46:00.000-08:00

I studied spanish the entire time I was in college. I have taken various trips to Latin American and lived in Chile in 1990. Really, why isn´t my spanish any better? I don´t think I have an aptitude for language. I can memorize, pick up simple exchanges, and communicate a bit. But to really converse and comprehend? Hard work. But I still try. I am trying to read Pablo Neruda´s Memoirs in spanish. I have been heavily warned by many, including Pedro not to try this. Why? Because Neruda has a vocabulary of a million plus words and twists them in many shapes
and directions. But that is what I love about it. I have read the book twice in english and so I more or less know the story. And because in so many instances he is offering snapshots, it is fun to try and take apart his prose. It is one of my favorite books. And a pleasure to read one more time.

Fifi el viejo

2011-02-21T07:39:00.000-08:00

I thought of my friend Steve quite a bit while I was in Catapilco because he would love to have a property like this. It is exactly what he might develop. The house itself is simple and elegant while the landscape is opulent and varied. On all sides of the house there are gardens, each with a distinct look. I also know that Steve likes the desert. Jorge has planted so many agaves, cactus, echeverria and many chilean native plants that I don´t know. They have a simple pool which is nice to swim in a bit and also to sit around. If you look at the house from a distance, it blends beautifully into the landscape. There are great opportunities to walk around the property, and around the terrain. The neighbors have a small vineyard, and the hills are quite lovely. The whole time I was there, Jorge worked. He is always working in the garden, rearranging, improving. Yes, JUST LIKE STEVE! And finally, what would Steve like the most about this place? It is a perfect place to relax with your family.

Catapilco

2011-02-18T16:04:00.001-08:00

Today we drove to Catapilco, where Jorge and Pedro have built a country house. They bought the property with some friends and everyone is developing a house at their own pace. Of course Jorge and Pedro built theirs first. It is completely fabulous. The house is simple and can be completely open or completely closed. And of course it is filled with beautiful things from all over the world. It reminds me a bit of where Michael Jackson built "Neverland." It is about 15 minutes from the ocean and surrounded by hills and mountains. Really beautiful. So, to round out the picture, we are about an hour and a half from Santiago. I would not have said that I found Santiago stressful and noisy but now that I am here, WOW. So quiet! So pretty! There are these kids that play basketball in the street in the evening outside of my window in Santiago and I am realizing that I do not miss them at all now that I am in the country. While I write, Jorge and Pedro are making me dinner. What´s not to like?

Pablo Neruda

2011-02-17T18:08:00.000-08:00

When I came to Chile in 1989, my good friend (and employer, and mentor and teacher) June Jordan impressed upon me that I must read the works of Pablo Neruda and investigate his presence in Chile. At that time, Neruda was a thorn in the side of the dictatorship. Long dead (he passed in 73, not long after the coup) his work lived on in the minds and hearts of chilean but his association with the Communist Party made him poeta non grata. When I lived in Chile in 89 it was impossible to buy any of his works that had political content. This included his memoirs. It was published in other countries with a different cover. He had three houses full of art and books and objects he had collected from all over the world. I was able to visit his house in Isla Negra because I had befriended a woman who knew him. At that time, the other two were not open. When I was in Chile 5 years ago, we went to Sebastiana in Valparaiso. For this trip, my friends Jorge and Pedro wanted me to see all three. So, yesterday Jorge and I went to Isla Negra and then to Valparaiso. SO EXCITING! We got to see and tour both houses, with all the multitudes. I begged to see the third today so we went. It is called the Chascona and is in a neighborhood called Bellavsista. I suppose I should explain that there is a foundation that manages all of this. Honestly, it is so fantastic to imagine his life by looking at his houses. He had so many interesting collections: Books, bottles, butterflies, shells, masks, maps. He had a deep fascination with the sea, and this was reflected in his collections. One of my favorite books is his memoir. It is called "Memorias." If you read it, you will love it!

La Moneda

2011-02-15T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well WOW. They have completely opened up the Moneda! I guess you would say it is City Hall or the White House or something like that. It is the place where Pinochet´s people murdered Salvator Allende, among others. Anyway, I walked right up, asked the carabinero how to get to the museum and next thing you know... I am walking RIGHT INTO the Moneda. Talk about transparency. They have a museum of the americas in the lower levels, and various shops for chilean handicrafts, etc. Really, I could not have fathomed 20 years ago that someday I would just walk right in.

A trip to the wine country

2011-02-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

I found this company that has tours that include biking and wine tasting. Well, dang! Sign me up. The tour I bought was a bit expensive but it looked interesting: a visit to three different small, family-owned vineyards with lunch at the end. And a bike ride through the vineyards.

Maipo Valley is probably the biggest around Santiago and certainly the most accessible. Two australians were also on the tour. The guide was a young chilean guy who more or less spoke english. They took us to the wine country in a van that brought the bikes for us to ride.

Normally this is the kind of thing I eschew: carrying bikes in a van; only riding for part of the trip; the van actually followed us while we rode on the road, etc. But seriously, when in Rome, keep your damn mouth shut and you will have a good time.

The tour was more intimate and quiet than a corporate Concha Y Toro trip likely is. The guide was charming and funny. We went to a small organic winery whose owner gave us tastes from the big barrels and showed all the ways in the which last year´s big earthquakes messed up their business.

It was a good day but I would not pay so much money again for a tour.

In a future post I will wax nostalgic for the days when Chile only had about 4 wine producers. It was a hell of a lot easier to buy wine back then.

On the way back, we could see the cordillera from our car. This does not happen every day thanks to smog. I hope to see the Andes again soon!

Para que nunca mas

2011-02-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

Our visit to the Museum to Remember today was quite a contrast to yesterday´s dalliance at the Fashion Museum. Within the last ten years the Chilean government built an impressive, open, free museum that chronicles the history of the coup in 73 and the events following. They have quite a bit of footage from the day of the coup, interviews with survivors of torture and detention and neverending homages to people killed and disappeared. Remember that there are still people missing who have never been recovered.

As a building, the museum is outstanding. Lots of light and the well organized exhibits. Jorge, Pedro, and I liked the visit quite a bit but we all left feeling sad.

Pedro

2011-02-12T18:14:00.001-08:00

I met my friend Pedro in 1989 when I lived in Chile. At the time he was a young lawyer, struggling a bit, with a small office on the Paseo Ahumada. Now he is very successful and shares a practice with his long time friend Gianni. I think Pedro is one of the smartest people I know. He is one of those people who reads everything around him. He reads in other languages (not just spanish) and is interested in many subjects. He also has an incredible sense of humor. Which means that he laughs at all my jokes. We have always found a lot to talk about and laugh about. I feel lucky to know him. For ten years he has been with Jorge who is an architect and artist. Together they bought an old house and have made it 100% fabulous. Half of the house is indoors, the other half outdoors. Their art and renovation is really beautiful and every detail is well thought out. And the best part? It is very well located to go to the market, go downtown, go anywhere. I love staying with them. I feel if I am living in a friendly museum.

Saturday in Chile

2011-02-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

The big new attraction in Santiago is the fashion museum in Vitacura. Okay, guess what? Vitacura is kind of like Beverly Hills. This super rich guy who is obsessed with his mother made a museum out of their family house and the fashions of his mother. This is what happens when you have an only child! You don´t have to be particularly sensitive to see that this guy is in love with his mother but at least he has turned it into something practical, a fashion museum. The exhibit right now is an homage to the 80s and it really is fantastic. This guy has made deals with collectors all over the world and has really beautiful period pieces well curated. Recently the NYT referred to the neighborhood as a "Toy 5th Avenue" but to my eyes it is more like a walkable, charming Rodeo Drive. In Chile, they take care of their pedestrians. Really lovely to walk on these fabulous tree lined streets.

After our visit to Vitacura, Pedro, Jorge, Maria Jose and I went to a fantastic Peruvian restaurant. Oh, yeah, pisco sours and ceviche.

And now, what does one do in Latin America after lunch? Yes, a siesta! Me voy.

Santiago in 2011

2011-02-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

Returning to Chile has been disorienting. So much of the infrastructure is the same but let´s face it, 20 years is a pretty long time. I visited about five years ago but only stayed in Santiago for a few days. This trip is all about Santiago so really trying to relearn my way around.

Rivers and mountains and venerable institutions have a way of forcing a city out of a grid pattern. So, for someone like me, who sadly does not have a good sense of directions, getting a grip on where everything is in a non-linear city is tough!

Mostly I have walked since arriving, but today I rode a bike. In the last several years Santiago has incorporated many separated bike paths on streets big and small to its traditional street and sidewalk grid. The big and wide sidewalks (perhaps the thing I love the most about Chile) have been reorganized to add paths for bikes and in some cases, a separated lane on the street.

What happens when you give people separated facilities? Well, for starters they ride bikes. So many people on bikes? Mostly the younger generations, but an equal amount of women and men.

But the other thing that happens is they when don´t have a designated bike path, they just go on the sidewalk. And in some cases, wherever they want! It is a bit like riding at Stanford. Everyone rides and they make their own rules.

Santiago or bust

2011-02-06T07:01:00.000-08:00

I'm going back to Chile! I lived in Santiago from the fall of 1989 to the spring of 1990. This picture was taken a mile or so from where I lived in Providencia. My friends Jorge and Pedro do not live far from this Metro stop and I will be staying with them for most of February and a bit of March. So excited!

The New Modern

2009-05-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

The Art Institute has a phenomenal collection. Phenomenal. I had to think of a world that is not overused by me or anyone else (like fabulous or fantastic or amazing) and phenomenal is the one that came to mind.

So many incredible masterpieces. I am a Picasso freak and I was not at all disappointed.

Will be back many times for more.

May rain

2009-05-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

Yeah that's for sure. May also cause allergies to flare up. SO TRUE.

My dog is an unintentional sufferer of allergies. She can't be outside as much if I am suffering.

To make it worse she licks the grass all the time which makes me feel even more congested.

Boy is this boring. Sorry if you are reading this.

Aurora

2009-05-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

I spent many hours in Aurora Illinois last Saturday. Why I will not tell you. But I was with Katie so it was F-U-N.

Anyway, Aurora is kind of unintentionally retro with a Long John Silvers right next to an Arbys and the signs date back to my childhood. Kind of awful and kind of cool at the same time.

I mention it because Aurora is where they made "Wayne's World."

Pass me the Grey Poupon!

March the month that sucks

2009-03-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

People love to ask me how I liked winter. The way the story goes, this was one of the roughest winters ever. Me, I loved it. Loved December, loved January, loved February. So much snow! Flora and I love to take long walks on snowy weekend mornings. There is nothing better than watching Flora play with the other dogs in the fresh snow at Wrightwood Park.

The cold can be a bit much. But I have a thick down coat, a bunch of hats as well as gloves. Also, I have really great boots. Three pairs of great winter boots! I love all of them.

March sucks. I remember hating it when I was in college. Two many warm weather false alarms and too much water. It is a long miserable month. I blame everything bad that has ever happened in my life on the month of March.

Long live Aretha

2009-03-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the last time I posted was to defend Aretha's hat. Oh well. It's not like I am Arianna Huffington.

Fabulousity

2009-01-24T19:20:00.000-08:00

Aretha and her hat were fabulous.
And for the haters: What do you know?
Maybe you have not heard... Aretha is not just diva but diva royalty
She is the undisputed QUEEN OF SOUL!
She can wear something outrageously fabulous like this and you and your small self must respect it.
God Bless America indeed

Bloggin on the 'Nog

2009-01-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

You know, the Inauguration...

Wow what a day. For me it was a lot of emotions, some happy some sad. I think I felt reminded of a lot of the ugly parts of our history that make electing a black man seem so amazing. I mean, I hate to be the voice of cynical negativity but how sad that this is such an achievement. Given how smart we think ourselves to be (humans) how is it that it has taken us this long to make this one step?

But all of that aside, how great it is to have a smart president.

Now if he is really smart he will consider an about face on his dog thoughts and get a beagle. In these economic times we need to economize and a beagle (or a few) would sure keep the squirrels and bunny rabbits off the white house lawn

2009 is going to be MY year

2009-01-01T15:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I was walking my dog this morning and two houses down I see a glove on the lawn. But not just any glove, MY GLOVE that has been missing for a month or so. I had lost it on a snowy day and now that the snow has melted... I have my glove back.

Seems like a great omen for 2009: Find something this year that I lost last year.

I also lucked upon a ticket to the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field and got to see a very lively outdoors hockey game today.

I expect 364 more very good days this year.

Ouch

2008-12-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

I wore the wrong boots this morning. It was super icey and while walking my beagle dog I fell right on my left arm. OUCH. As I write this I guess I should be glad that I did not fall on my right arm.

Anyway, it hurts and I think something might be broken. Will go get an Xray in a few days if it still hurts.

When I fell Flora ran away! Then she came back. This dog is just too much! I feel like she should have at least licked me.

A christmas miracle

2008-12-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

I found one of the gloves that I thought I had lost!

2008-12-24T19:18:00.000-08:00

This dog loves to run in the snow!

End of the year reckonings

2008-12-24T17:55:00.000-08:00

I am not sure what this says about me, but when I assess the year, I feel as if the events of the world were much more captivating or interesting than anything that happened in my own life. I have never felt this way before.

My year has not been uneventful. I sold my condo and moved back to the midwest after twenty years in California. I gave up tremendous quasi governmental benefits to work for a scrappy non-profit after surviving cancer, Friends died, relatives died, and a black man was elected president.

Do you see what I mean? How can anything in my life seem remarkable after america voted Barack Obama into the oval office?

I do not see Mr. Obama as the second coming. But I have to admit that I never thought I would see a black family move into the white house IN MY LIFETIME. I do not subscribe to the belief that "racism is over" but I do think that this historic election has caused a sea change in how we can dream.

Our economy is in a shambles. As a professional cynic, I am sure that I would have predicted capitalism to fall so spectacularly but what I really treasure is how many people (including our current president) fail to admit it.

Our nut case governor and the Ponzi scheme would be much less interesting to me if they were stand alones. As in the only thing that Jon Stewart could milk for months on end. But geez, this kind of jaw dropping news seems to come to us on a weekly basis. And I really don't even know what is going on in the rest of the world.

But let's bring it back to me. I know it has been seven months but I still can't believe I live here.

Summer was a wonder. Maybe one of the happiest summers of my life. Chicago in the summer is magical. I am confident that there are very few places on earth that do summer like Chicago does summer.

Fall and winter have been a neverending series of revelations and rememberances. There are so many things I had forgotten about surviving cold, dark, and snowy days. It startles me how weather reminds me of people and places and long forgotten feelings.

Having a dog in this climate has been a mixed blessing. I like having someone around who wakes me up and pulls me out of bed, even if that someone is a bit of a winter slug after bounding out of bed at sunrise in the summer. I actually like having to walk my dog in the mornings. It warms me up for the day and acquaints me as to how cold it is and how wild the wind is whipping.

It is all about how you dress. I consider it a personal challenge each day to wear the right clothes for the weather, especially the right coat, the right hat and the right boots. Some days the Uggs are perfect. Other days I MUST have rubber boots because the water is inches deep at each curb. I love telling myself at the end of the day that I GOT IT RIGHT I wore the right coat and boots and thank them by setting them next to my mega heater.

My heater! I do not know who loves it more, me or Flora. This thing is huge, powerful, and the kind of thing that you would only find in the midwest. I love how it blasts heat and keeps the floor warm. Flora hangs out by it so I moved her bed over.

Gloves or mittons are another challenge. Since moving to Chicago I have bought four hats, three pairs of gloves, and one scarf. So far I have lost two gloves. Not from the same pair of course. It is a small miracle that I have not lost any hats. It is so easy to drop this stuff. I see gloves and mittons on the ground everywhere. I want to pick them all up and keep them in a box and then see if I ever get a matching pair. But when I see a glove on the ground I have a quandry. What is If I picked it up not knowing that someone was doubling back to get it?

I want a refund

2008-11-20T19:22:00.000-08:00

No one warned me it would be this cold. YIKES! It got as low as 11 degrees today. Or at least that is what it said on the E*Trade clock by Union Station. Everybody commented as they saw that number. There were flocks of people walking towards Union Station (to go home of course) and so it was funny to hear everyone exclaiming "Oh my God... it is eleven degrees" over and over and over.

I had been feeling cold for the last many minutes and was secretly glad that I was justified in my shivering.

It is time to find a down burka and just walk around town warm and happy.

I keep thinking that I will see the Obama motorcade when I walk through the loop. Maybe next week.

Do they know?

2008-11-18T18:11:00.001-08:00

So, I walked down Michigan Avenue on Friday, to buy a hat to go with a new coat. I was somewhat shocked to find the streets and the shops chock full of people. And people were buying stuff. Haven't these people heard that the economy is in the toilet?

Anyway, I got my hat and even bought a few other things. Hey, if you can't beat em join em.

In other economy related news: what should a bike person make of our government now bailing out Detroit? Okay, it isn't a done deal YET but I think we all know the unions are pretty much telling the democrats: Okay we voted your butts into office, you better bail us out.

The claim is that we can't let the car companies go bankrupt because no one will buy a car from a bankrupt car company. Apparently, no one is afraid to buy an airline ticket from a bankrupt airline (I have heard this on the news 100 times so it must be true) but people need a lifetime of parts and service from their car company so it can't go bankrupt.

Just typing this out makes me realize what BS this is. Being bankrupt does not necessarily mean that you go out of business permanently.

Henry Ford is sleeping quite well in his grave. They will get their bailout, whether I like it or not.

The return of the FOB

2008-11-15T21:21:00.000-08:00

Wow. How time flies. Remember the whole FOB phenomemon of the nineties? When our erstwhile hero Bill Clinton was Prez? Before he effed the whole thing up by being a dumbass and taking the bait of a brazen intern with big hair and a stretchy thong?

Anyway, the FRIENDS OF BILL are now FRIENDS OF BARACK so we can conveniently keep the FOB moniker and wonder how many Bush era refugees are packing their bags and moving back to the beltway?

It has not been that long. Only a few of those last century FOBS are dead so Barack now has to contend with the old guard and all of the 21st century foot soldiers who made him 100 times bigger than Paris Hilton, Beyonce, the new Bond and the old Bond, not to mention all Batmans and maybe even Bart Simpson

I am secretly glad that I did not work that hard on his campaign because now I cannot even begin to try and claw my way into FOB land.

So long, FOGs. Your time will come again. Soon, I hope not.

Being a Breast Cancer Survivor is SO fabulous

2008-10-30T20:24:00.001-07:00

Some snow!

2008-10-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

Damn it is cold here all of a sudden. And I love it! So cold and clear and quite a fast change. Just a bit of snow but snow nonetheless. Kind of a small thrill for me.

I keep thinking that I am going to try and find a down burka to wear this winter. Doesn't that sound warm?

Pictures coming

2008-10-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

And they won't all be of my dog. I promise.

Fine Art

2008-10-26T20:46:00.000-07:00

I got to see "Caroline or Change" at the Court Theatre in Hyde Park. This show was amazing. I feel like this kind of play/musical is what it is all about. Great performances. Brilliant performances. A simple plot with complex relationships. And the music was perfect! If I ever really figure out how to deal with my itunes account, I will buy the download of the broadway version.

If this show comes to a theatre near you... check it out!

The triumvirate

2008-10-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

When I decided to move across the country in February, I was gambling that I would not get cancer again. If I had a way to know my fate, and more cancer was in the cards, I would have stayed put. But here I am, still (ostensibly) cancer free and moving on with a quasi brand new life.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Those tired old words pretty much sum up my new life in Chicago. It is a new existence but with so many imprints from the past and from people who have weaved in and out of my life for years. Still can't quite make sense of it. What was I thinking? What was the purpose of starting over? My life was perfectly good in California. My heart aches when I think of all the wonderful people that are no longer a BART ride away.

Back to February. When I was mulling over my move, I tried to look at it from every angle. How was this whole thing going to play out.

One day I was not even thinking about whether or not I would move and suddenly it popped inot my head that if I moved, some of my cancer friends would die and I would not be in California to mourn them up close. At the time, I thought that those inevitable deaths were still a long way off.

But this summer, three women whose cancer struggle intertwined with mine all died withing a month of each other. Each of their deaths came with plenty of warning but still caught me by surprise. There is a lot you can do to delay death if you really work at it.

Natalia. Deb. Lynnly. Deb and Natalia were younger than me when they died, Lynnly lived to the grand old age of 54.

I do not feel guilty that I have so far survived the true hatchet of cancer but I cannot stop wondering how it is that our fates started so similarly and have ended so differently.

There are so many things that I love about my new life and I am desperately thankful that I have been granted this opportunity.

I understand why I came but I do not know why I left.

I miss my friends in California and I mourn the deaths of my friends. My only solace is that they no longer have to live with cancer, cancer treatment, hospitals, and doctors.

If you want to know Lynnly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p4l1QHFdWg

If you want to know Deb:

http://doiy.com/deb_mosley/

If you want to know Natalia

http://www.beginwithin.net/

Pointing out the obvious

2008-10-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

Let's just have the national presidential election tomorrow. The whole damn country is so burned out and I seriously doubt that anyone out there is "undecided."

I talked my cousin into joining a euchre league at our corner bar. Euchre is a card game that I love. Anyway, the people we played with tonight are "go, fight, win McCain" but agreed that he looked like a super freak, (super freak he's super freaky) during the debate. McCain or Frankenstein... you choose!

My dog and I just want peace and love to rule our planet.

Not to mention free hotdogs for everyone.

History

2008-10-03T23:12:00.000-07:00

What are we going to remember about this crazy time that we are now living through?

How naive we were about the bailout?

How we knew that our government was selling us down the river but not really knowing how and why?

How it seemed like things could not get worse and then they did?

I think Sarah Palin is going to be someone that we remember sort of faintly and then chuckle at how BIG she seemed at the time.

I met someone today who is under the age of thirty and she is quitting her job soon. Someday she will look back and understand why people older than her said "Wha???"

MEMO

2008-10-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

To: Joe Biden and the Chicago Cubs

From: Everyone on the north side of Chicago

Date: Today

Re: Do NOT mess this up! This should be an easy win for you. You, especially Mr. Biden. Please do not feel obliged to open your mouth and show the world how much smarter you are than Sarah Palin. It is as obvious as she is unqualified that this is your debate to lose.

Carlos... Carlos... El Torito: Bring us a really big win!

Just another brick in the wall

2008-09-30T19:48:00.001-07:00

And here I thought I was so unique. It turns out that everyone in the whole damn country except for Henry Paulson and his wife have been hatin' on the bailout. Goshdiggedydang.

But at the same time I feel inspired by what little faith we collectively have in our government. It makes me feel as if perhaps our nation is smarter than I thought.

My 401K has taken a drubbing but Flora and I can always just live on the beach somewhere when I retire.

Flora has promised to live to be 35 so that I will never be alone.

Still hatin' the bailout BUT

2008-09-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

I think McCain is going down. What can he say? I am sure his wife is freakin' on how much money their family will lose if the Treasury Secretary doesn't get what he wants.

By the way... why is that women are ALWAYS the secretary unless there are large amounts of money involved and then men have that job?

Henry Paulson is a pig. And here is what he is really upset about: if he doesn't take care of all of his richie rich cronies in this 700B deal... then they will NOT invite him to their summer houses next year.

Boo hoo. His kids will have to shop at Banana Republic like the rest of us.

Hatin' on the Bailout

2008-09-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

I feel peace and love towards the planet... but I am just a hatin' on the bailout! Thankfully I am starting to think that this is not a bipartisan thing; conservatives are hatin' too.

But still, why do I feel like the final 700 billion bailout is still going to be a travesty?

I do not think I have ever felt a greater sense of "what is wrong with this country?" I can't even believe that people are still debating/thinking about dare I say hatin' on Sarah Palin. Like who cares?

My only hope is that democrats and republicans are calling their congresspeople and senators in droves and freaking out on them. That is our only hope.

Flora the Beagle

2008-09-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

Flora has no idea that she is going up to Wisconsin this weekend but she will LOVE IT. I can only imagine how many critters she is going to chase into their holes/caves/trees.

It is not rocket science to make Flora happy but it is not always feasible for me to make it happen.

I will have fun too.

Fads

2008-09-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me today that Sarah Palin may just be a fad. In a few weeks we will be on to something else.

As in, people might see a connection between our failing financial system, impossibly expensive and wasteful war in Iraq and FEMAs inability to get water to Dallas before a radio station could.

I really am an optimist.

Lance, you can kiss my big butt

2008-09-10T15:49:00.000-07:00

Must I elaborate?

I think it is okay for Lance to try to come back to professional cycling. Why not? It is very much the only thing he is truly good at. Clearly he is not a good husband, boyfriend, or Dad. He is an okay marathoner but will never be a contender.

So boo hoo. Lance is really only good at riding a bike and winning the Tour de France.

Forget his young kids who would probably love to spend lots of quality time with their Dad. Forget all the celebrity chicks who haven't yet gotten their hands on his gams, and forget the folks at Livestrong his uber famous cancer charity...

OH, WAIT A MINUTE! I must apologize! Lance isn't coming back to cycling because there is no one left in his titanium sandbox... he is doing it to help the global cancer fight!

Yeah right. Um, note to Lance: you have outlived your status as world's most fabulous cancer survivor. There are so many more interesting people besides you who have had cancer and will have cancer so just admit that you are just a selfish SOB and we will all watch your "comeback" with great interest next summer.

Why couldn't McCain have chosen Lance to be his running mate? Would have solved a lot of problems for everyone except my man Barack Obama.

In the eye of the storm

2008-09-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

Well dang. Right after I read an email from Amanda telling me about a drought in Olema I got stuck in a terrific rainstorm that still seems to be rockin and rollin ten hours later.

Is this the hurricane coming to us?

Are we still on Ike or on to a new one?

Not only did I not have an umbrella with me today, I had no coat and a pair of sandals. What a kooky day.

Let's get a bit kookier: I am actually happy for Roger Federer winning the U.S. Open. Another Rafa/Raj match would have been epic but let's be fair. Getting a Gold Medal as individual in the Olympics is much better than winning the U.S. Open.

Final tennis note: Go SERENA! Now that was an exciting match.

Amanda: Watch your mailbox. A big old box of rain headed your way.

Seattle

2008-09-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

I like Seattle. It feels so small and livable. Today Renee and took a walk around the Sculpture Park. Fantastic! This is the best form of public art. You can mix walking with sightseeing and see a mix of contemporary sculptures.

On our way home we stopped at a Japanese-American owned fish market. It felt very pacific to me. The place was packed and the fish looked fresh and amazing. We got a big salmon and a few dozen oysters. They also had a lot of cool ingredients and noodle packs that I wish someone sold near me in Chicago.

Many years ago I had the good fortune to go on a bike tour in the San Juan islands with my good friend Deb. I picked up this book that I read (part of) many years ago called "The Living" by Annie Dillard. This book had such an effect on me. Sounds dumb since I did not finish the book. But I quit reading it because it was too painful. It was about various phases of settling the pacific northwest. It is called "The Living" because so many people die. Settling the West was not an easy life. Perhaps even less easy on the people who were already here.

In other news, I have never felt a greater need for Jon Stewart in my life. This election is going to continue to be a source of amazing revelations and moments. Without "The Daily Show" I am lost.

News black out

2008-09-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry fans that I have no time in post in my blog during this wonderful week of rockin out republican hypocrisy. I am in Seattle at a bike conference. How banal.

But suffice to say, I am lovin it.

But let me temper my joy with some sobriety. Imagine, if you will, what the grand swath of educated white people in our fair nation would say if Barack Obama had a 17 year old daughter who was pregnant?

A whole different story. And I do believe that the democrats would be right in line with the republicans judging without mercy.

John McCain is nuts. But he still might be our next President.

Who is the majority?

2008-09-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

I am too lazy to chase down the stats, but last time I heard, the (slight) majority of women in this country are anti-choice.

Anti choice, pro life, whatever you call it they are opposed to abortion in most cases.

It is entirely likely that there are leagues of women who LOVE the idea of a female anti-choice President or Vice President.

I still think that McCain's choice of a V.P. is an insult to the women of this country but I also think that there are a lot of women in this country who feel insulted by women like me who presume that we speak for thinking women.

I will be pro-choice till the day I die but I do not think this makes me smarter or better than the billions of women who disagree with me.

Speaking of laziness I am too lazy to find sexy pics of Sarah Palin's hottie hubby who proudly refers to himself as the "first dude" of Alaska. If he does not want to wear a speedo to the convention, how about a beach volleyball costume?

Show us those abs big daddy!

Are we stupid?

2008-08-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

Gosh. I am afraid that the answer is YES. Let's not forget who our president is. Collectively we elected the village idiot. And don't give me that crap about how he didn't really win. If he is sitting in the oval office, he "won."

But still, one has to feel some HOPE as re Barack Obama and wonder if John McCain's Hail Mary VEEP choice is really a subtle way of telling us women that he thinks we are stupid.

While on one hand, I am guessing that the Governor of Alaska is smart and hardworking, I have to wonder why she seems even remotely fit to be our number two? Sure McCain could live to be 110. Stranger things have happened. But what if the guy has a killer heart attack in 2009 and all of a sudden this outpost governer is running our country? Scary.

Clearly she was chosen to capture the disgruntled Hillary vote." Which makes me think that McCain thinks we women are stupid. If the idea is to get a woman on the ballot, what is wrong with Condi? Okay, DUH. We all know what is wrong with Condi. Whatever blood Bush doesn't have on his hands, McCain has on his hands, and Condi thought up the whole scheme. But still, let's face it, Condi has "experience." I am not exactly sure who they are, but there have to be other right wing women who are in politics who would be a more appropriate choice than Sarah Palin.

In other news, her husband is damn cute. In my grand fantasy life, he will dress like Michael Phelps at the convention when he gives his speech about how serving his wife and changing his kid's diapers is what matters to him most.

CarolynFloraBarcelona

2008-08-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

OMG. Flora and I have seen the new Woody Allen movie and we are ready to pull up our stakes and head to Spain. OMG! Have I said that yet? This newest Woody Allen movie is so much fun and all if could make us think was - why not just move to Barcelona?

We see a need for a greater infrastructure for cyclists there. As soon as the right job comes up, we are headed to Europe.

I love Michelle Part II

2008-08-29T19:57:00.001-07:00

I refuse to desecrate our fabulous heroine by talking about today's big news (um, McCain's VEEP choice of a mega Mom from Alaska) but I am sorry to say that I can't quite find a good enough picture of the magenta ensemble that the Obama family wore at the convention last night. Sorry about that.

Those stupid ironic columns framing Barack (which I do agree were ill advised) are WAY old news. Couldja believe how perfectly blended the Obama family outfits were? Michelle has on a rockin magenta floral dress. The girls are NOT wearing matching dresses, they are wearing dresses that blend beautifully. So tastefully done Michelle! And, then, as the piece de resistance, our future president is wearing a dark suit and a MAGENTA and pale pink striped tie. OMG does it get any better than this?

If anyone cares, I think fireworks are stupid.

What's not to love?

2008-08-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

So is everyone as crazy in love with Michelle Obama as I am?

She is just SO fabulous! And do you LOVE her hair and amazing fashion sense?

GO Maria Pinto!

http://www.mariapinto.com/press.html

Let me rip off Stella Foster from the Sun Times because she said it like I was thinking it:

MICHELLE OBAMA'S SPEECH at the DNC convention was phenomenal and her outfit and hair style was perfect. She is described as the "Black Jackie O" on the Internet . . . as in the late first lady Jackie Kennedy. I say she is the black Michelle Obama . . . no more . . . no less. And to the women readers asking who did Michelle's hair because they loved it: Top hairstylist Johnny Wright, a former Chicagoan now living in Los Angeles, flew to Denver to coif the potential first lady. Wright has been doing Michelle's hair for about a year. So, now you know.

I remember Meleia

2008-08-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

It has been over three years since Kimberly's lovely daughter, Meleia Starbuck-Willis, was murdered in Berkeley.

I still find it hard to believe.

What I remember about Meleia is how she looked at you deeply as if she could see into all of your insides. I felt like she did this so that she got to see all of you, not just what you looked like on the outside.

Soon after Meleia was murdered, Katrina swamped New Orleans. And then came the Kashmir earthquake: Government estimate 79,000 dead. My co-worker Nadia lost many members of her extended family.

So when I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in late October, 2005, it just didn't seem so bad.

Still doesn't.

Cougar in Chief

2008-08-27T18:48:00.001-07:00

I am actually watching the Democratic Convention this week. It does seem to me to be a (dare I say) historic event. I just can't believe how many women I have seen speak this week. I also can't believe how many prominent African Americans have been profiled. When I was watching Hillary Clinton speak I felt sort of amazed that a woman came that close to being the President. Truly this is something that I am not used to. Then I started thinking about Michele Bachelet, the President of Chile, and how cool it is that SHE got the top job there.

I started thinking that twenty years from now women leaders may not be that big of a deal. But how will they handle the fame and pressure? If Hillary were to be elected, would she be a dumbass like her husband, John Edwards and countless others and have sex with some young stud whose adoration she can't resist?

Probably not. But it is kind of fun to think about. What about that 3am phone call that totally stresses out Madam President and she has to work round the clock for several days until she is so seriously sleep deprived that she is in a stupor? Suddenly a very cute, very young, very sensitive male intern with a serious puppy dog crush offers to get her yet another diet coke... all of a sudden they are making out in the war room and it is all captured on some other intern's cell phone and on youtube before they can even get all of their clothes off.

Oh my.

A similarly fun subject is whether or not Condi and George will officially hook up after he leaves the White House. Again, probably not. She has to reinvent herself somehow so that she can be our first African Woman Presidential contender in 2016 or something like that. For whatever reason, I really like the idea that Condi and George really truly love each other and whenever they get time alone all they talk about is what soulmates they are.

As this post comes to an end I wonder if it is a good idea for me to be watching so much of the convention.

Hippest trip in America

2008-08-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

A fixture from my childhood is the show "Soul Train." It was on every Saturday in the afternoon and I used to watch it. I was not a devotee - nor was anyone else in the family, but the dancing and the funkified outfits (this WAS the seventies if you don't know) provided great entertainment. Another reason I watched it was because kids talked about it at school. As I write this, I realize that even to this day I will watch something because I know others will be talking about it. I am not sure if that means that I am a blind follower or if I know how to connect to others. Possibly some combination of both. Anyway, kids at school would talk about the dancers, the music guests, and of course Don Cornelius, so that is how I ended up watching Soul Train on Saturdays.

The first week that I lived here in Chicago was beyond surreal. I just could not believe that I had actually moved. Every day was more amazing to me than the previous one. I think what shocked me the most was how familiar everything was. The thick green grass. The friendly neighbors. The bar on the corner with the "Old Style" sign. Everything was new but I had seen it all before.

So, my first Saturday in Chicago I popped onto the couch to watch a bit of TV. I turned on the TV and started flipping channels. Next thing you know I was watching "Soul Train." I cannot tell you what a mindblow this was. I started really questioning my sanity and wondering if I was in some super realistic-seeming dream. How could Soul Train still be on TV?

The more I watched the more I realized that it was a re-run. I figured it out by studying Don's hair (jehri curls) the outfits (big shoulder pads) and perhaps the way they danced. I forget who the guest was, but I remember thinking that he was kind of an 80's guy too.

Oh my. Since that time I have happened upon the TV on other Saturdays and seen another golden oldie rerun of Soul Train. So much fun.

"...We wish you love, peace... and SOUL!"

Flora and I miss Mary & Harry

2008-08-25T20:25:00.001-07:00

That is Mary helping me out, of course. Mary and Harry are so cool. I miss them both.

Maybe I should not look at pictures of my old agave plants. I miss them. They are probably still on the patio of 410 Sheridan but I no longer see them every day. What fabulous plants. Agave do not grow well in Chicago. Plenty of Agave bars (aka places to drink expensive tequila in mass quantities) but not those big massive desert dwellers that I adore.

Oh well. I still have Flora the Beagle. And I can call Mary any time.

Fuzzy Deiss is my brother

2008-08-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

I just love this song that my brother wrote and bass slapped onto YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ZCdVjuLgk

The Obama Family on Cute Overload?

2008-08-25T20:05:00.001-07:00

CuteOverload.com should put the Obamas on their site. Everyone in that family is so dang cute!

Meanwhile, I think it might be boring to be dinner guests at their house. I bet they talk about policy a lot, and probably are not as big into the kind of BS tall tales that I like to tell.

Meanwhile, I wonder, am I so proud to be an American? I suppose so. But thank god I am not a politician so I do not have to give these quasi jingoistic speeches.

I vote, I pay my taxes, and I will serve jury duty if they ever call me up. Is that enough?

A diggety dog, a lawnmower, and a tree that litters

2008-08-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

That Flora loves to dig. Not sure what she was after but she nearly made it to China. Too bad that I hauled her in so that we could go to sleep.

See that red lawnmower? It nearly got bulldozed. Right before the wrecking ball swung, I got it from the people who now own 250 Palo Alto Avenue. It had belonged to Ken and Amanda and now they have it up in Olema.

The tree that litters? Just trying to be clever. But so much junk comes off of that tree. Ask Nick who probably still has a car sitting under it that he plans to sell some day. The car gets decent mileage. He should sell it before Labor Day.

This post should have been made in May or June but just getting to it now. RIP 250 Palo Alto Avenue as it was.

This is what I currently look like.

2008-08-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

Blasting through the past

2008-08-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

I have been living in Chicago for almost three months and I am still shocked and awed by my decision to come back to the Midwest. Thankfully I am very, very happy that I made this move. But it still seems like a surrealistic pillow and I have moments where I wonder if I am really and truly living in Chicago, Illinois.

Meanwhile, I am blown away by how cool it is here. I love how friendly midwesterners are (even in the "big city") and how green and lush the grass is. There are so many things I had totally forgotten about that now cheer my days: The almighty brat, the luscious polish hot dog, the thick armed greek that sells you this stuff. I just love it.

Alice Waters, you can kiss my butt. That woman had the nerve to come to the Green City Market a few Saturdays ago and hock her cookbooks with one hand while holding her nose with the other. I have a memory like a steel trap for people who dis midwesterners and little Miss Chez Panisse has pierced my ear drums in the past with her little rants about how all we eat is iceberg lettuce and Kaukauna cheese.

First of all, where do you think we got that iceberg lettuce? From California you dumbass. And don't knock Kaukauna cheese until you have tried the port wine variety. That stuff is hella tasty. Anyway, what bugs me most about Ms. Waters is that she has felt terrifically comfortable making sweeping generalizations about my people when she never had the privilege to meet my Mother.

Did you ever hear of Polly Helmke? Well, she was so into her vegetable garden and fruit trees that she even had a cold frame in the backyard so that we could have fresh lettuce way into the winter. And how about that crappy tree in the dog run that she scoured for every last piece of peach so that she could can each edible morsel providing us with nice fruit after dinner in January?

And in the 70s' while Alice Waters was perfecting the art of gouging all those rich denizens of the Berkeley hills with pan braised arugula, my Mom was in Michigan fighting metastatic cancer, raising three kids, working full time, AND laboring over a monstrous vegetable garden that provided us with the freshest of vegetable laden dinners and preserving what could not be consumed for winter.

And if my Mom had bothered to open a restaurant so that everyone could eat so well, I guarantee you that she would not have a charged an arm and a leg nor would she have insulted other people from other regions that she really did not know that much about.

Okay, screedy, snarky rant over. But that one has been stewing in me for a long time.

Back to happy Chicago talk. Another good thing is that Flora the Beagle likes it here too. We have made many dog and people friends in our environs. The cats are not so crazy about us. The bunny rabbits wish that Flora would mind her own business, and the squirrels agree. I have only seen one chipmunk since I have been here and Flora has seen none. Boy are those little suckers cute. I don't think I saw any chipmunks the entire time I lived in California but that doesn't mean that aren't living large on some almond or walnut farm.

OMG. I have finally started writing in my blog. Let's see when I get to it next. Peace out.

Moving a palm tree

2007-05-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

Today I felt like I had finally "arrived" at Stanford when I saw a crane moving a brand new palm tree into the courtyard of Old Union. I happened to have a camera with me so I snapped a few photos. There is an urban legend at Stanford that it cost 30K to install each palm tree on Palm Drive. It's not true but I think it helps the undergrads feel better about how much it costs them to get a bachelors degree.

Go with the flow?

2007-03-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

Okay. I got this article from the Economist. I bet it is illegal to reprint this on my blog but I love the idea of the Economist trying to bust me.

Anyway, I thought it was very interesting (the idea of transportation planning based on tracking people via their cell phones) and love it that the people who have the most to lose in terms of privacy (politicians) are the people who have given cell phone providers carte blanche in the marketplace.

Enjoy!

Go with the flow
Mar 8th 2007
From The Economist print edition
Visualisation: Data from mobile-phone networks can create maps that show how people are moving around

WHERE is everybody? Being able to monitor the flow of people around a city in real time would provide invaluable information to urban planners, transport authorities, traffic engineers and even some businesses. Bus timetables could take account of hourly or daily variations; advertisers would be able to tell which billboards were most valuable. Such information can be collected via traffic helicopters, roadside cameras, police patrols, sensors embedded in roads, tracking units in vehicles, data from public-transport turnstiles and surveys. But the resulting picture is often inadequate, expensive—or both.
Map showing the distribution of mobile-phone users (and hence people) around Rome's Termini station
A new scheme devised by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) takes a different approach. Given that almost everyone in the developed world now carries a mobile phone, why not use the data from mobile-phone networks? Such networks have to keep track of where subscribers are, as they roam from cell to cell, in order to route calls and text messages. The MIT researchers have been testing the idea using anonymised data from two European operators, Telecom Italia and Mobilkom Austria, to analyse where mobile phones (and therefore people) are at any given moment.
The results take the form of luminous maps adorned with moving and colour-coded arrows, dots and patches of light that indicate the speed and population density of people in the city in question, with an accuracy down to a dozen or so metres. “You see how the city is pulsating,” says Carlo Ratti, who is leading the research as head of the SENSEable City Laboratory at MIT.

The new approach has a number of advantages over other methods. Sensors embedded in streets can accurately count vehicles, for example, but cannot count passengers or detect pedestrians and cyclists. Sensors and cameras also fail to provide “origin-destination” (OD) statistics—jargon for information about where people are travelling to and from, and how long their journeys take. Such information is usually collated using surveys, which are very expensive to carry out. Using data from phone networks promises to be much cheaper. “It's pretty simple: you just need a digital map and you show the data,” says Hannes Ametsreiter, head of marketing at Mobilkom Austria, which is working with MIT to map the city of Graz. “This could be an opportunity for us.”
With markets becoming saturated and mobile operators' revenue-growth slowing—there are already 112 mobile devices for every 100 Austrians, for example—providing information about travel patterns could be a lucrative opportunity for telecoms firms. One potential customer is Seat, a firm based in Milan that provides real-time traffic maps that drivers keen to avoid traffic jams can call up on the internet before setting out. The company gathers information from roadside cameras, Italy's national toll-road operator, the police, and satellite-tracking systems installed in more than 220,000 vehicles across Italy. All this costs a lot of money and provides only a partial picture of the state of Italy's roads.
A large crowd assembles at Rome's Olympic stadium for a Madonna concert
Paolo Cellini, the head of Seat's internet division, says using data from mobile-phone networks instead would dramatically improve the service. He estimates that within two years Seat will sell subscriptions to onboard navigation systems updated in real time with information on traffic levels and average speeds. After that, Seat will provide traffic forecasts produced by correlating past traffic patterns with variables including weather, the date and nearby events, says Mr Cellini. He expects to pay telecoms operators more than €30m ($40m) a year for access to their location data.
City-planning departments offer another important market, says Ricky Burdett, architecture adviser to the Mayor of London and the director of last year's Venice Architecture Biennale, at which MIT displayed a prototype real-time map of Rome (see picture). London is preparing for a projected additional 1m inhabitants in the next 15 years, and people-movement maps “will be invaluable” in planning housing and transport. Politicians will take to the technology because it can provide solid statistical backing for politically unpopular planning decisions.
Follow the people
It is not hard to think of other uses for the technology. Estate agents, for example, might be better able to appraise commercial property by determining how many pedestrians pass a given storefront. Advertisers would appreciate knowing how many eyeballs pass a hoarding and how those numbers vary between weekdays and weekends. And tourism authorities might change their promotional campaigns abroad after noting which nationalities (identified by their home networks) spend most time in town and which prefer to lie on the beach.
“People-movement maps could lead to improvements in transport planning, traffic-light placement, signage and road layout.”
Rome will probably be the first city with commercially available people-movement maps. When MIT presented its project, called Real Time Rome, to Telecom Italia last year, the top management at the Italian telecoms giant gave the scheme its backing. So did Rome's mayor, Walter Veltroni, and the city's transport authority, ATAC. Fulvio Vento, the director of ATAC, says the new system will allow him to scrap an expensive annual OD survey of 2,000 people, which costs more than €60 per respondent to carry out. Mr Vento says the maps will give his planners extraordinary and unprecedented power to shuffle the schedules of Rome's 2,100 buses as demand shifts throughout the day. It could also lead to improvements in traffic-light placement, signage and road layout. Roma Metropolitane, the city authority for Rome's expanding subway network, also says the maps will be a boon to planners.
Fans celebrate as Italy's victorious World Cup team arrives in Rome on July 10th, 2006. The areas with the highest population density are shown in green
Samarcanda, a taxi firm based in Rome, is providing free consulting services to the project in return for access to the data. The company's boss, Giovanni Coco, says his drivers still choose their routes based on habit and experience. “It's a disaster,” he says, “we need help.” Transport planning will provide a ready market, in short, but plenty of other potential uses for the technology are waiting to be discovered. People-movement maps would appear to have a colourful and pulsating future.