I finally biked in Vieques, something I have wanted to do for years but my plan was always derailed for one reason or another. I only spent the day there but it was a day well worth it although I woke up in a semi-foul mood due to lack of sleep as I had to wake up early to catch the first flight to Vieques on an itsty bitsy teeny plane. I sat next to this older fellow who looked happy as a clam while we gently flew over the island, heading east towards Vieques, which is quick but enchanting 30 minute ride. Once there, this same fellow took me to the bike rental shop La Dulce Vida, which is on the other side of the island and run by some guys from Seattle, which was made viscerally evident when one of them, Andy, was overjoyed, and I mean overjoyed, that they now had an espresso machine up above the bike shop. I admit, I salivated at the sight of his frothy, surely caffeinated coffee.

I eagerly took the bike, which was an older mt bike in good condition but a bit heavier than I am used to but I was up for the challenge, wanting to ride to

I had one goal in mind for my trip to the tropics: quit caffeine. I thought it would be a process of pure hardship and hell as it has been many times in the past but for some really strange reason, this time, it was like cake. I did not even go through one withdrawl headache and felt like my concentration was as good as when I am off caffeine. Strange, no? My only explanation so far is that they must caffeinate the water here or something. I really feel I went through nothing and let me tell, I have gone through some serious emotional and physical turmoil quitting in the past, so this is a pure joyous mystery to me.

I should come here whenver I need to quit but it has not cured me of my online addiction that is for sure. My dad finally got his computer hooked up and he is right at this very moment, shooing me off to “get off the computer!!!!” Better do as the keeper of the computer wants!

Things don’t change much here year to year which actually is a good thing. It keeps places like Starbucks away but well, they have finally made it to the Old City and people love it…. Ironic. PR is known for their yummy coffee and Starbucks is crowded as sardines in a can with locals and tourists sucking down on way too acidic harsh coffee.

It is nice being here especially since the weather is holding up despite daily rainshowers. So far one of the things I have enjoyed the most is open air tai chi. You can’t beat doing it outside with the little coqui’s chirping in the background, the breeze helping you along with the movements.

I am missing my net access sooooo wishing there was access on or near the beach. One can dream, right?

So, it has been ages, I mean AGES since I pulled an all nighter. Yet tonight, I find myself pulling one, in part because my flight leaves in 2 hours and because, I am working on a proposal. But the cool thing is that I am working on it with two other people, on IRC, as a matter of fact, right as we speak, I mean, right as I quickly blog. They are in Italty and Austria, while I am in SF yet we can pull this proposal off and so much more elegantly too. 3 brains instead of 1 over IRC is the way to go, and speaking of going, I am nearly off to Puerto Rico.

I am about to head home to Puerto Rico for a couple of weeks of indulgent days on the beach. I love to go home for many reasons, one of which is to hear the endless chirps of the coqui a frog-like critter the size of my thumb. We were indoctrinated to believe that the coqui could live no where but Puerto Rico (or at least that he, and only he’s sing to pick up the ladies, of course) because the coquis are you know, nationalistic frogs through and through.

But, we can no longer really believe this myth has he has indeed overrun the island of Hawaii, striking up a largish environmental controversy. It makes me a little sad knowing my little beloved frog-like creature is causing such problems as his rhythmic singing puts me at ease. Or at least will soon put me to ease…

Finally, I finally spent a Christmas doing what I know the j-man would want me to do: belting it out at The Mint!

I woke up to bright bright sun which has been a rare sight these days in SF but better than the sun, it is December 21st meaning that the days now get longer and I get happier. This is yes, my favorite day of the “holidays”.

The EFF holiday party was held in two parts tonight: the first was a collective viewing of
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers on opening day and then your nice holiday party at a house with Christmas tree, firplace and all.

When Seth told me that the movie was nearly 3 hours long, I rolled my eyes and whined for like 10 minutes because I have attention issues and 3 hours seemed like way to long for one sitting. Near the end of the movie, Seth leaned over and told me that the movie was about to end and this time my eyes widened and I thought to myself : “no way I can sit here for like 3 more hours watching the great visual weaving that is the movie.”

I am not going to spoil the movie so I won’t reveal much except that I loved the “hobbit” hairdo, especially “Frodo’s” a quasi-70s head of modest curls, the bad guys all have horribly ghastly teeth, while a bad-ass fighting team is composed by mutli-specieis boyzzzzzzzzz (an elf, dwarf, and hunky-as-hell human).

So I have to admit the stark good vs evil that is typical of these movies makes me somewhat uncomfortable but I also have to admit that I let it go to watch these types of movies. I was told about a Salon article by David Brin that explore the moral representation in the movie although I have yet to read it. Maybe tomorrow.

Speaking of stark moral representations. I ordered an “educational kit” from the Business Software Alliance which came in the mail today, shipped One Day UPS Express (they certainly have money to burn because this is not something I would qualify as “urgent”). Anyway, the packet included a movie “Software Piracy: A Costly Mistake.” Should be an interesting to see and heck, order your copy today for holiday viewing, or to bemuse your hacker friend. Here is how you can get your free package:

info@bsa.org: mail us here if you would like to receive a BSA information packet, educational material, BSA audit software in disk form or information via mail that cannot be found on the website. Please include your post al address.

Today was a pretty interesting day filled with a mixed bag of treats one of which was not this “factoid” on America pertaining to a “Harris Poll” on the American “Wish List.” American polled desire the following:

1. Health
2. Winning the Lottery
3. World Peace

I am glad to see that Americans have their priorities straight as, really, winning the lottery is certainly so much more important and satisfying than frikken world peace.

Anyway. I decided to go back to Bikram yoga today after nearly a 7 month hiatus and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the heat (around 120 Fahrenheit) that is the Bikram studio. It is not surely for everyone but I can’t help love feeling really hot in a city that is never really all that warm.

Later in the night, I went to the EFF holiday party. It was great to see all these folks that I see at geek events but all under the same roof! And speaking of things geeky, we held a key signing and I was like the honorary woman there. As usual, I was struck at the joy and happiness that key signing induces amongst geeks. Now Mr Harris or who ever runs these polls needs to undertake a wish list pole amongst hackers… Wonder where “weekly key signing events” would fall, 1, 2 or 3?

Does anyone else like straight-up anchovies? They do go best dressed on a pizza with a light layer of cheese but since I don’t do pizza anymore, I just eat anchovies. They give me a lot of happiness as do a number of other foods like fried plantains (my absolute favorite), coconut milk (makes anything taste better) and chocolate (pure heaven)

I made a really yummy broccoli, spinach, coconut soup this weekend and I recommend it to anyone who needs some color or coconut in their lives. It is easy to make: steam the broccoli and spinach till soft, then blend with coconut milk and then add some curry paste and salt to taste. I am sure most will prefer that to anchovies…

Aside from eating a lot of coconut stuff and I admit some “straight-up anchovies”, I saw many movies this weekend. Two of the three movies were on bowling. OK, not exactly on bowling per se but the act of bowling was in both movies, one movie which was “happy”, the other “not so happy.” Actually both go quite well together as well. The first was one of my all time favorites: The Big Lebowsi featuring the life and especially ethos of “the dude” while the second one was slightly less on the jovial, uplifting side: Bowling for Columbine.

Both are amazing films, obviously pretty different in their message although both really punch you quite hard, one making you laugh, the other leaving you more on the nauseous side. While the Big Lebowsi is about the “dude” and his particularly laid back and open lifestyle, Bowling for Columbine is about the “culture of fear” that is strangling America and helps to explain the general atmosphere of societal mistrust and strong American inclination to resort to violence. Moore did a brilliant job at unearthing the ethos of fear and mistrust that is now becoming the underlying warp and woof of America society, an unspoken cultural grid that is being perpetuated especially by and through the media. The amazing thing is that this culture of fear is not simply the “fear of violence and others” but spans into so many other parts of the American psyche like fear instilled by a legal system where the threat of a lawsuit is at every corner or the fear of that one cannot provide for one’s family as things like healthcare and education are so damn expensive and are really up to the individual to provide for. It runs so much deeper than even depicted in the movie.

Anyway, there is a lot more that can be said about the “fear and loathing” in America but it is best to end with “the dude” as he represents the like the total antithesis to a person imprisoned by the shackles of mistrust. We can all benefit from some chilling out to keep free from those shackles:

“Fortunately, I’m adhering to a pretty strict, uh, drug, uh, regimen to keep my mind, you know, uh, limber.” Wise words, dude.