Calderon Senior Picture

Calderon Senior Picture
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

Yep, that's right. That's Mr. Calderon's senior picture. He looks like he's going to go on tour with The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly.

A Rainbow in Segments

This was the view from our roof tonight. We made coriander encrusted wild salmon covered with a homemade nectarine salsa. The sides were roasted potatoes, fresh greens and avocado salad. As we were eating this amazing, beautiful, colorful rainbow met us on our deck. Sometime it feels like you're living in a movie. Or at least piece of art work.

Click here to see a larger picture.

We Named Him Truck, They Named Him Jackson

This just in…Autumn and Eric are parents. Awesome! But don’t take my word for it, head over to the blog, House of Farrara, and read all about it in there words:

First of all, my wife is amazing. She brought our son into this world with amazing strength. Jackson and I are the luckiest guys in this world.

Jackson Wheeler Farrara entered this world at 9:25 pm. He weighs 8 pounds and 11 ounces and he has huge muscles....

Michelle and I get to hang out with Truck.... uhhhh.... Jackson tomorrow. We can't wait!

Yeah, It's Michelle's Pirate Ship Pool Birthday Party

Michelle turned a little bit older last Friday, but damn, I could swear she becomes more younger every single day. In between her half-marathons and triathlons and Doctorate program and hobbies she’s always coming up with something new to do. I’ve never seen someone with so much energy. God help us when we have kids!

The previous Saturday we threw a birthday party for her and a friend, Kelly. The theme? A pool party of course. A water balloon fight broke out sometime in the afternoon and the party went deep into the night. As you can see in the pictures, we DO have a pool…and a pirate ship. Who knew?

Fun. Fun. Happy birthday! Now let’s go for 60 mile ride through Napa, do some doctorate level homework and drink this amazing bottle cabernet. Or just pick one. Sounds good to me. Sounds like a birthday party. Michelle’s birthday party.

Click here to see the rest of the fun.

We Made It

We Made It
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

It may seem like it’s taken a long time for us to put up a blog entry about our trip to Peru…and that’s because it has. The trip was awesome, but it was also exhausting and when we returned home we needed to wade through some 600 or so photos, rest up, get back into the swing of work and school, and just generally get ourselves back into the swing of our normal life.

Like many of you have heard, we crammed a lot into our 9 days in Peru, and some of those things we didn’t mean to put into our trip, like getting sick in Cusco at 11,000ft. But most the things we experienced were amazing and perspective changing. I walked away from Peru with a newfound understanding of what it means to be poor in this world. I am so thankful for all the opportunities I’ve been granted in my life. When you see a beautiful 9 year old child living in a barely standing shanty of a house, working the corn fields with her hands, or trying to sell trinkets to the rich tourists, it puts things into perspective. I am fortunate. I now know what poverty looks like, and, although I’ve been poor in my life, I’ve never gone without options, no matter how hard I’ve had to work to achieve those options. I’m not a rah rah American, but I do think that I’m incredibly lucky to have been born in this country.

The Peruvian landscape was amazing (the food, not so much, unless you like Guinea Pig for dinner). It was full of massive Andean peeks that jutted out from verdant green high mountain planes, and blue skies that were dotted with the most amazing cotton clouds I’d ever seen. The architecture was a mixture of Incan and Spanish. The Spanish tried to wipe out the Incas, but you can’t kill a culture all together. Invariably it will seep into your belief system, and that’s just what it did throughout all of Peru. I can’t tell you how many times Michelle and I saw a painting of the last supper where the meal was cuyee (guinea pig).

We saw Spanish churches whose foundations were Incan ruins. We were told that there’s still a close relationship with Spain, but we also got the feeling from many Peruvians that they hold a bit of contempt for the Spanish Conquistadors. It makes sense when you learn that the Spanish wouldn’t just conquer the natives, they’d then find the most important part of the there culture and build a Spanish church on top of it.

We spent time in Lima and Cusco. Cusco is the second largest city. It sits at 11,000 feet and it’s the birthplace of the Incan empire. The town square, where we stayed, has streets and architecture that are original. The place is full of tourist acclimatizing before they go on their way to Machu Picchu. Taxis and cars zip by and kick up a strong smell of exhaust. Nothing is done slowly here, at least when you’re in a car or crossing the street. We spent a day here before we headed out to Machu Picchu, and then returned for 2 more days.

Machu Picchu is mind numbingly beautiful. Go there. Words can’t describe it. Pictures won’t suffice. When we got our first view of it, I just wanted sit down and take it all in and soak it up, before I even walked any further. It’s magical place in middle of the Andes in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Peru. It takes a while to get there and it’s worth it. The Spanish never found it so they never ruined it. Thank goodness. It is truly special.

Lima was scary in places, nice in others, and very interesting. I kept telling Michelle I felt like I was caught in a place where it was alternately 1951 and 2009. Old and new. Poor and rich. Dirty and clean. You’ll find it all in Lima just walking down the street. When I told a friend that we were going to Peru and that we were going to spend some time in Lima and Cusco, his quote was, “Cusco’s awesome. Fuck Lima.” Another friend replied when I asked him about Lima, “Horrible.” Honestly, I was bit worried about spending time in Lima, but, to my surprise, I found the time that we spent in Lima to be very interesting. I’m glad we had the experience and I recommend that anyone who visits Peru, spend a little time in Lima.

Machu Picchu and the high Andian Plains were, by far, the highlights of this trip, but the whole trip was great. I feel like we didn’t just read a chapter of a book, we got the whole story, and there are many volumes that we have yet to read. I’ll just finish this blog entry by saying this: I’m always humbled by the idea and the realization when I travel, simple as it is, that not only does this Peruvian way of life exist, but it always exist, with or without me. It is today as it was yesterday as it will be tomorrow. These people that I see living in this far away land—they are not tourists. This is there life. Seeing the lives they lead and the realities they navigate makes me more fully appreciate the world in all its complexities. Thank you Peru. I’ll take a little piece of you wherever I go.

-caspian

Here are a few pics. Click here to see all the pictures.

Little Taxi

Hotel Ninos


First View of Machu Pichu


The view from Waynu Picchu


Michelle in front of church in Cusco


Locals


Found in Lima


Our Bikes

First, but definitely not last

Finish
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

This is me, Michelle, finishing 4th in my age group (of 23) in my first triathlon. As it was the one of the most exciting things I´ve ever done, it won´t be my last.

My uncle Mark did a shorter Triathlon event the day I did mine. He finished 2nd in his age group. We are both inspired and in full spirits.

Right now, however, I have to finish this bottle of Coca Cola en Machu Picchu, catch a train back to Cusco and finish our trip to Peru, wich is proving to be the second-most exciting thing we´ve done this year.

Stay tuned!

~Michelle

What Happened to the Economy?

It's been a while since I last posted. Things are going well for Michelle and I, but not so good for a lot of people out there. We've all read the news and heard stories about friends, family and acquaintances running into hard financial times. Just a couple years ago everyone was talking about how much value there house had gone up. Things have changed a ton. Today there are foreclosures signs all over. So what the hell happened? Listening to the news sometimes makes you feel like you have to have a degree in economics to understand. That's where this interesting video comes into the picture. Check it out. It's a bit long (about 11 minutes), but it's worth a viewing. It explains, in an entertaining and interesting way, how this all came about. It makes sense. I know it's not the whole story, but it's a pretty important part of it.



The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Ants at Snowbird

Ants
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

See those little people all the way down at the bottom. I know, it's hard. It's a long way down. That was once me, and then, for no good reason except a little powder, I hiked all the way up to the top of that hill. That was sweaty. Seriously.

Not Bowling Ball

6 months pregnant.
Originally uploaded by autumn_rose.

My sister is getting bigger because she's carrying around a big little one. Her and Eric have a couple good names picked out, but they haven't settled on the final one yet. I've been offering up my creative brain in an effort to broaden the naming options. Here are just a few of the beauty's I've given them:

1. Swayyyyze
2. LaryCarl
3. Gene
4. Truck
5. Jamison

You know you like option number four.

We Vote for Presdent's Day

Not Grey
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

So what was President's Day 2009 like for you? I can tell you what it was like to Michelle and I. It was 20 inches of fresh powder on a Lake Tahoe ski resort named Squaw. It was Michelle and I crushing the powder, hitting every black diamond in site. It sounded like WHACK! I turn around and Michelle hasn’t just crushed the powder, she’s tried to crush a tree too. Hitting it and being flipped around. I’m worried. She’s laughing. Not a big deal. We just continue loving the snow. Later on we head back down the mountain, towards Sacramento, and run into a slowing, no, stopping of the I80. We sit on the road for an hour, listening to music in our car and playing with our iPhones, no movement, until the authorities clear the crashed cars off the icy blacktop below. Presidents Day 2009 was visit to Napa for us. It tasted like a beautiful Cabernet and a whole host of wonderful wines. We brought some home. We’ll share them, or maybe just share them with each other. Come visit before they are gone. President’s Day 2009 was fun. Just fun.

Click here to see all the pictures from our weekend excursion.