Soap's Blog

2009 Reading List

2009-12-31T07:34:00.012-05:00

At the beginning of this year I had set three reading goals for myself:

Read a book a week
Read the primary Jane Austen novels
Read more than one Charles Dickens novel

I guess two out of three ain't bad.

January

The Cross Centered Life — C.J. Mahaney
Pagan Christianity? — Frank Viola and George Barna
Tale of Two Cities — Charles Dickens
The Pursuit of Holiness — Jerry Bridges
The Spiritual Secret of Hudson Taylor — Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor

February

The Practice of Godliness — Jerry Bridges
The Princess Bride — William Goldman
The Love Dare — Stephen & Alex Kendrick
The Four Loves — C. S. Lewis
Letters to an American Lady — C. S. Lewis
Uncle Tom's Cabin — Harriet Beecher Stowe

March

The Torch of the Testimony — John W. Kennedy
Out of the Silent Planet — C. S. Lewis
Pride & Prejudice — Jane Austen
The Notebook — Nicholas Sparks
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church — Mark Dever
Dad's Pregnant Too — Harlan Cohen

April

Chi Running — Danny Dreyer
The Case For Christ — Lee Strobel
Mere Christianity — C. S. Lewis
Test–Driven Development By Example — Kent Beck

May

Wild At Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul — John Eldredge
Emma — Jane Austen
Lifetime Guarantee — Bill Gillham
Fahrenheit 451 — Ray Bradbury
Julie — Catherine Marshall
Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World — Joanna Weaver

June

The Names of God — Lester Sumrall
God Can Do It Without Me — Johannes Facius
Perelandra — C. S. Lewis

July

That Hideous Strength — C. S. Lewis
The Case For Faith — Lee Strobel
Release the Power of Prayer — George Müller
Houses That Change the World — Wolfgang Simson
Letters to the Thirsty — Edward Miller

August

Mormonism 101 — Bill McKeever & Eric Johnson
A Cry From the Streets — Jeanette Lukasse
Filled With The Spirit: Then What? — R. Mabel Francis

September

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell — Susanna Clarke
To Train Up a Child — Michael & Debi Pearl
Sense & Sensibility — Jane Austen
Persuasion — Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey — Jane Austen

October

The Vaccine Book — Robert W. Sears
Be Comforted — Warren Wiersbe
Mansfield Park — Jane Austen
Left To Tell — Immaculée Ilibagiza
Spiritual Leadership — J. Oswald Sanders

December

Standing in the Gap — Johannes Facius
God's Best Secrets — Andrew Murray
Grace Walk — Steve McVey
His Victorious Indwelling — ed. Nick Harrison
My Utmost for His Highest — Oswald Chambers

2008 Reading List

2009-02-19T19:20:00.001-05:00

In conjunction with my 2007 reading list, here is my reading list for 2008. Note the months in which I did not finish any books. What a shame!

January

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis
Profit at Any Cost? - Jerry Fleming
Microchip: An Idea, Its Genesis, and the Revolution It Created - Jeffrey Zygmont

February

Programming Sudoku - Wei-Meng Lee
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
Sacred Marriage - Gary Thomas
Animal Farm - George Orwell

March

The Weight of Glory - C.S. Lewis

April

The Pragmatic Programmer - Andrew Hunt, David Thomas
So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore? - Wayne Jacobsen,
Dave Coleman
Do Hard Things - Alex & Brett Harris

June

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
Be Free - Warren Wiersbe

July

God's Smuggler - Brother Andrew, John & Elizabeth Sherrill
Be Rich - Warren Wiersbe
Scrum and XP From the Trenches - Henrik Kniberg

August

Be Confident - Warren Wiersbe

September

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability - Steve Krug

December

The Journals of Jim Elliot - Elisabeth Elliot
Derek Prince: A Biography - Stephen Mansfield

2007 Reading List

2009-02-17T21:10:00.004-05:00

I was thinking about back-dating this post to place it within the proper time context. However, doing so would have upset my numbering and my 100th post would no longer have been the 100th post. Of course, this point may be moot after I pull over some posts from old blog accounts.

Anyway, I alluded to keeping reading lists in a recent post. I present my reading list for 2007. 28 total. I was on a good roll up through April, but then something like planning for a wedding crept in there. Go figure right?

January

Death of a Guru - Rabi R. Maharaj
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Sitting at the Feet of Jesus - Johannes Facius

February

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Five Love Languages - Gary Chapman
Don't Waste Your Life - John Piper
Does Your Tongue Need Healing? - Derek Prince
Brave New World Revisited - Aldous Huxley

March

Mere Christianity - C. S. Lewis
The Giver - Lois Lowry

April

Be Right - Warren Wiersbe
Marriage Under Fire - James Dobson
God Can Do It Without Me - Johannes Facius
The Bridge - Jeri Massi
Believing God - Beth Moore
Crown and Jewel - Jeri Massi
In the Beginning Was the Command Line - Neal Stephenson

May

The Normal Christian Life - Watchman Nee

June

Lessons I Learned in the Dark - Jennifer Rothschild
The Great Divorce - C. S. Lewis

July

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien

August

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling

September

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame - Victor Hugo

October

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R.
Tolkien

November

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien

December

Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold - C. S. Lewis
A Grief Observed - C. S. Lewis

BBC Book List

2009-02-17T20:28:00.001-05:00

Among the memes going around Facebook, there is one that actually interests me. It is an all time reading list. I'm posting it here, because I have Facebook set up to automatically pull my blog posts. I've just copied the list and marked the ones I have read with strike-through.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Bible
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Complete Works of Shakespeare
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Middlemarch - George Eliot
Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
Emma - Jane Austen
Persuasion - Jane Austen
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
Animal Farm - George Orwell
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Dune - Frank Herbert
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
Moby Dick - Herman Melville
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
Dracula - Bram Stoker
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
Ulysses - James Joyce
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
Germinal - Emile Zola
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Possession - AS Byatt
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
Charlotte’s Web - EB White
The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
Watership Down - Richard Adams
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

21 total, though by the end of this year, I hope to have read all of Jane Austen's novels and perhaps Oliver Twist and Moby Dick. Lofty goals to be sure.

Keeping Reading Lists

2009-02-01T06:21:00.003-05:00

For as long as I can remember, I've enjoyed reading. When I would finish one book, I would pick up another. I also consider myself to be fairly particular about organization. Which is why I was very surprised that I never thought to keep a list of things that I had read until I saw my brother-in-law's reading list a couple of years ago. I have now kept a reading list for two years.

It's interesting to look back over them. For example, in 2007, judging from the first half of the year, I was on track to read almost 50 books—but then my reading dropped. Something about a wedding that I was in ;-) The same thing happened last year. At the beginning of the year, I read at least 3 books a month and around April the reading dropped again. That was about the time I started regularly blogging.

This year the same beginning trend is occurring. There have been 5 full weeks and I have read 5 books. I'm on track to keep it going for at least the next 2 weeks. I make no predictions for the rest of the year however. I'll just see what life brings as the year goes on.

Edit: Added link to 2007 reading list (forward reference)

Changing Gears

2008-12-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

It has been fun trying to keep a somewhat regular posting schedule. The past 8 months have challenged me to actually post when the thought occurred to me "that could be a blog post." I have enjoyed the writing exercise, the lone soapbox, and sharing happenings in my family (albeit small at the moment).

Lately, I have been tending towards things having to do with Amy and myself and away from politics and technology. As such, I think it a better use of our time if we had a joint blog. So we have one set up over here. I'll still keep this one up. I also may occasionally post something here that doesn't quite fit in with the joint blog, but I am ending a regular, predictable posting schedule with this post.

Feliz Navidad and Hasta luego.

Duke Ducks: Part 12 - Blue Heron

2008-12-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

Like the Barnacle and Canadian geese, the Blue Heron is not a duck. Unlike the geese, however, it is not even similar in features—it stands upright in the water using long, thin legs rather than floating and it hunts for fish instead of digging for plants.

I am still including it in this series because it is one of my favorite residents of the Duke Gardens. To my knowledge, there is only one Blue Heron that visits the Duke Gardens and it seems to make its home in other areas as well. There were times when I would not see it (I say it, because I didn't know whether it was a male or female) for a few days at a time. It has a distinctive, yet eerie call that would always make me reach for my camera.

It took some time for me to get a good picture, because I would usually get too close and it would take to flight. Eventually, either it got used to my presence or I figured out the right distance to not invade. So, here are some pictures.

One of the first blurry attempts

Across the pond

A common resting spot

Fishing in the shallows

A little closer

Have to see the bridge

Stretched out

Major zoom

Bridge again

Focus on the heron

Different pond

Fishing at the terrace pond

So concludes the Duke "Ducks" series.

Duke Ducks: Part 11 - Canadian Goose

2008-12-12T00:00:00.005-05:00

Today I am again bringing some pictures of non-ducks. Some of the most obnoxious waterfowl residents of the Duke Gardens are the flocks of Canadian Geese that come through during their biannual migrations. Thankfully they are only temporary residents as they are noisy, messy, and pushy. I liken them somewhat to stereotypical school bullies. If somebody happens to be handing out food, they manage to crowd out the regular residents (you know, the ones that are more permanent due to wing clipping) complete with chasing and biting other birds that get in the way.

Despite what may seem to be bitterness on my part, these birds make great subjects. Here are some pictures.

A very common expression that seems to imply "are you giving out food?"

This one looks to be tagged

A closeup of the tag

Duke Ducks: Part 10 - Barnacle Goose

2008-12-08T00:00:00.009-05:00

Well, today's entry is not quite a duck, but it's close enough. The barnacle goose is a bit smaller than its Canadian relative. The two that live (permanently—wings clipped) at the Duke Gardens seem to be much less aggressive also. They have a distinct call that carries pretty well, especially in the quiet of most mornings. Here are some pictures from a few different trips through the gardens.

Duke Ducks: Part 9 - Other Ducks

2008-12-03T00:00:00.005-05:00

In reviewing my photos, it seems as if my interest waned in having multiple photo shoots of each species of duck that lives in the Duke Gardens. Thus, today I present a variety of ducks. This will be the last set of duck photos, though certainly not the last of the non-duck waterfowl photos.

While walking into the office one day, I came upon this male Philippine Duck that seemed to be begging for me to take his picture.

Not far away was the female with an equally fortunate pose.

Earlier this year, Amy and I happened upon the two of them taking an afternoon rest.

I believe that this is a Chestnut Teal, though I'm not sure. It is one of the smaller ducks and tends to get pushed out of the way when people are throwing bread.

This is a Rosy-billed Pochard—one of the more strangely adorned ducks.

Duke Ducks: Part 8 - Northern Pintail

2008-11-26T00:00:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures of the pair of Northern Pintails that live at the Duke Gardens.

Peruvian Food

2008-11-21T06:30:00.000-05:00

One part of traveling is sightseeing, but another part is actually experiencing the culture. One of the best ways to experience the culture is to eat the food. While in Perú, I was determined to, as much as possible, eat only Peruvian food. We did pretty good until Cusco, where we ate the Peruvian interpretation of pizza (same idea, different ingredients), but we tried to avoid "typical American" food (whatever that is). In Lima, we fell completely off the bandwagon and went to KFC. We did see a McDonald's and a Starbucks, but we didn't go in.

Here are a few pictures of the various dishes that we ate.

Real Inca Kola

Huane (wahn - ay) — popular in the jungle

Papa a la Huancaina in a restaurant

Picarones (peek - ah - row - nays)

Cuy

Trucha (trout)

Papa a la Huancaina (homemade recipe), Arroz con Pollo (rice with chicken), and cebada (a sweet drink made from barley — but not fermented)

This post brings the Peru trip series to an end. There are links on the side bar if you would like to see more pictures. I still need to figure out how to get the video off of the camera. Once I do that, I'll start uploading some to Youtube and maybe posting them. Until then, Chao!

Peru Trip Timeline: Part 7 - Lima

2008-11-19T00:00:00.006-05:00

When we finally got to Lima after waiting in Cusco for an extra 7 hours, we were greeted by our hostess, Gladys, and her daughter, Miriam. Gladys is the grandmother of one of Amy's former students whose family we have had the pleasure of getting to know over the past few months. Our new arrival time put us in Lima right in the middle of rush hour. What is normally a 30 minute drive took us over an hour.

After we got to their home, we went out for dinner at KFC. I knew that McDonald's has a huge international market, but I did not expect KFC. The spices are the same, but you can tell that they use different chickens there, though it was just as good. It was late when we got back and we were tired from the long day, but then we found out that we were going to a show.

We went to see a show called a peña (pain-ya) that showcased indigenous Peruvian dance, music, and costumes. Between choreographed dances, they opened the floor to the audience. It was a lot of fun though we were very tired and I nodded off to sleep during the taxi ride home.

The next day, we went to a museum that housed some weapons from around the world and some pre-Columbian artifacts (though there has been some question recently as to the authenticity of the collection). After walking through the museum we headed towards the Plaza de Armas (of Lima). Traffic was pretty bad around the Plaza due to a major event that weekend so we stopped at the Plaza de San Martin and then walked to the Plaza de Armas. I've waited to post the entire timeline before doing a count, but we visited 6 different Plazas de Armas—Trujillo, Cusco, Aguas Calientes, Ollantaytambo, San Blas, and Lima. While in the plaza, we caught a bus tour of the city that eventually took us up to the summit of San Cristobal. The drive was around some precarious turns, but the view was well worth it.

When we got back to the house, we had a late lunch and then took a siesta nap (I like the siesta). We went out for a late dinner and then back home.

The next day, our last full day in Peru, we stayed at the house until after lunch. Amy learned how to cook some Peruvian recipes and I attempted to learn how to spin a top from an 8-year-old. After lunch, we went out with Miriam and her two sons, Jason and John-Pierre, to see some more of Lima. We went to a park and took out a couple of paddle boats. After that park, we went to another park that was full of water fountains with different designs and lights. We then went for another late dinner. We went back to the house to get packed up and into bed for the early morning flight back to the U.S.

All in all, the visit to Lima was good. It was a blessing to be able to stay with natives. We could not have asked for a more generous and gracious family to spend our time with.

The next morning, we were up at 3 so we could get to the airport by 4 for our flight at 6. We had just enough time in the duty-free area to get some Peruvian coffee beans before getting on the flight to Miami. There was plenty of time in Miami to get through Customs and security and then get some lunch. We arrived in Raleigh at the new Terminal 2, despite departing from Terminal C. There was some standard opening day glitches with the jet bridge and baggage carousel, but we soon were greeted by my parents who had come to pick us up.

We had a lot of fun. It was an enlightening trip for me—seeing another country should be an enlightening experience. Despite the two weeks, Amy and I both determined that it wasn't long enough to truly get to know it. I'm glad that I got to visit, but I would definitely like to get to know Peru better.

Disclaimer: While in Peru, Amy and I managed to take around 2250 photos, much less than our preparations, but still over 6GB worth. The pictures that we post online are, understandably, a small subset. The ones about which we blog are an even smaller subset. If you want to see more pictures, there are a couple of links on the side-bar. I will be uploading over the span of a few days and blogging could take a couple of weeks.

Peru Trip Timeline: Part 6 - Ollantaytambo

2008-11-17T00:00:00.018-05:00

When we left Aguas Calientes, the day after visiting Machu Picchu, we stopped in a town called Ollantaytambo. The town is the site of another set of Incan ruins. Our initial intent was to visit the ruins and get a hotel to stay the night and head back to Cusco the next day. However, as I read more about the site, it became clear that we wouldn't spend an entire afternoon walking around the ruins. Instead, we stowed our luggage with a service offered by PeruRail for just that sort of thing and walked into town to get some lunch.

Frommer's had said that the hostal in which we were originally planning to stay had a decent lunch setup, so that was our first stop. All of the chairs were up on the tables and there was nobody around except the manager. She recommended a place that was on the Plaza de Armas (of Ollantaytambo) called Ollantay. We walked a little further and got to the plaza. It is at this time that I must admit something—I forgot to take pictures of the Plaza de Armas in Ollantaytambo. I do, however, have some video, though it was cut short by the arrival of drinks (only Coke) at our table.

After lunch, we walked back towards the ruins. We learned our lesson at Sacsayhuamán and got along just fine at Machu Picchu, so we went without a guide once again. Thankfully, there was a map right at the beginning of the site that showed the major routes for most tours. Along with the map, there were plaques with blue arrows pointing the way.

In one of the pictures above, you can see the general feel of the site. The main terraces climb up the side of a mountain. Another set of ruins, believed to be grain storage, are on the opposite side of the valley. We only visited the main terraces, though, either side would have greeted us with a lot of climbing.

Above the terraces, there are ruins of what used to be a temple along with some really cool carvings.

From above the terraces, there are really good views of the Sacred Valley.

Ollantaytambo is pretty dry and windy, but there are a couple of nearby rivers. Part of their expertise was in irrigation and some of the techniques they used are still in use to this day.

It took us about 2 hours to walk through the terraces. We decided to not attempt the other side of the valley because we were already winded and the other side had a steeper climb. We walked back to pick up our luggage and got a taxi back to Cusco. The drive back took about an hour and a half through the Sacred Valley. The scenery was beautiful—I even saw my first snow-capped mountain!

Disclaimer: While in Peru, Amy and I managed to take around 2250 photos, much less than our preparations, but still over 6GB worth. The pictures that we post online are, understandably, a small subset. The ones about which we blog are an even smaller subset. If you want to see more pictures, there are a couple of links on the side-bar. I will be uploading over the span of a few days and blogging could take a couple of weeks.

Peru Trip Timeline: Part 5 - Machu Picchu

2008-11-14T00:00:00.015-05:00

As interesting as Cusco and Aguas Calientes were, our sole purpose in visiting them was realized with our trip to Machu Picchu. In the three summer vacations that Amy spent in Perú, she never once visited the ruins, putting it off until some future trip with her, yet unknown, husband. We knew that it would be a pretty cool experience, but little did we realize how breathtaking it would be. We had seen numerous pictures and even some video, both of which are horribly inadequate at conveying the beauty and scale of the site. We spent 5 hours walking around, climbing up and down stairs, ducking through tunnels, and peering in dark corners. We wanted to get to know Machu Picchu, as opposed to just visit.

Since we went without a guide, we really had no idea what the leading speculation was about different parts of the site. So instead of an explanation, I'll just put up some pictures.

These are some of the views as we walked in.

Some of us throughout the day.

Looking across the site.

To get a sense of how steep the mountain and terraces are.

Classic Incan stonework.

Views of the different areas.

Some of the critters that live there.

And last but certainly not least…

The classic Machu Picchu picture.

Disclaimer: While in Perú, Amy and I managed to take around 2250 photos, much less than our preparations, but still over 6GB worth. The pictures that we post online are, understandably, a small subset. The ones about which we blog are an even smaller subset. If you want to see more pictures, there are a couple of links on the side-bar. I will be uploading over the span of a few days and blogging could take a couple of weeks.

Peru Trip Timeline: Part 4 - Aguas Calientes

2008-11-12T00:00:00.011-05:00

It took Hiram Bingham roughly six days to trek from Cusco to the ruins at Machu Picchu. When he (re)discovered the ruins, they were completely overgrown by the surrounding jungle. His subsequent expeditions had to follow the same path and he had to set up camp each time.

The time required for that same journey has been drastically reduced by the PeruRail train line. It is also much easier to explore Machu Picchu now because of the close by town of Aguas Calientes (or Machupicchu Pueblo). Our trek from Cusco to Aguas Calientes took four hours and went through some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. We stayed in a hotel and were able to explore Machu Picchu refreshed, awake, and with full stomachs. Mr. Bingham probably would have liked such a setup.

We took the train to Aguas Calientes without any hotel reservations. That is a somewhat daring thing to do, especially if you also don't have return tickets on the train. Nevertheless, we were able to get a room at Gringo Bill's, one of the more well-known hostales in the city. After getting checked in, we set out to explore the town.

Being in Aguas Calientes is probably the most remote that I have ever been. The train is the only way in and out and there are fewer routes available to extranjeros (foreigners) than locals. It was built solely to cater to tourists visiting Machu Picchu (thus the Peruvian government's rechristening as Machupicchu Pueblo) and that purpose is readily apparent after stepping off the train. We had to work our way through an artisan market before getting into the main part of the town. We then discovered that it is filled with hostales and restaurants and it seemed like each one had a person out front hawking their services or menu. I was able to practice some of the important phrases I had picked up in Cusco.

The town is so small that there are no cars. There are at least two schools, though we figured there had to be more based on the number of different uniforms we saw. The river that feeds and flows from the hot springs for which the town is named (Aguas Calientes means Hot Waters) runs right through the middle. What a drastic contrast between the two sides. After seeing most of what we could see on the more touristy side, we crossed over the Rio Aguas Calientes and seemed to enter another world. There was a soccer game going on between some kids that didn't care much for the normal team size limits. There was some open-air grilling and boomboxes blaring. It was a good experience.

Other than providing a place to lay our heads and store our stuff while we explored Machu Picchu, there is not much more to say about Aguas Calientes. Oh, we were grateful that we managed to get lukewarm water for showers.

Disclaimer: While in Peru, Amy and I managed to take around 2250 photos, much less than our preparations, but still over 6GB worth. The pictures that we post online are, understandably, a small subset. The ones about which we blog are an even smaller subset. If you want to see more pictures, there are a couple of links on the side-bar. I will be uploading over the span of a few days and blogging could take a couple of weeks.

Peru Trip Timeline: Part 3 - Cusco

2008-11-10T00:00:00.016-05:00

After saying goodbye to Uncle Bert & Aunt Colleen, we got on the plane and got settled in for the flight. Not long after settling in, a couple came up and said that they had the seats in which we were sitting. The guy sitting beside us looked at our tickets and helped explain that the ticketing agent had only printed off our boarding pass from Lima to Cusco, not from Trujillo to Lima (the boarding agent didn't look so closely when we were getting on the plane…). We talked with one of the flight attendants who cleared the situation with the front desk and told us to just go to the ticketing area when we got to Lima and get a reprinted boarding pass. No problem right?

Actually there was a slight problem. I had arranged for getting on the flight to Cusco that left 35 minutes after our arrival in Lima. This meant that we had 35 minutes to get off the plane, to ticketing, back through security and to the gate. To make matters a little worse, the plane was late taking off in Trujillo and slightly late arriving in Lima. Thankfully, we found that the Lima airport isn't as bad to navigate as some airports and ticketing was not far from the arrival gate. We almost had a problem when paying the airport tax, however. We had paid in Trujillo, which meant that we didn't have to pay in Lima, but we would have had to wait for the manager to come out and do some authorization signature. We chose to pay the departure tax again instead ($12 total to avoid missing a flight). Another good thing is that security is pretty lax there, somewhat reminiscent of the way things used to be here. We ended up running the rest of the way to the gate and were the last ones just before the gate closed. Oddly enough, we got on the same exact plane that we had exited just 30 minutes prior and we sat in the same exact seats.

Before arriving, we had been told by numerous people, along with our Frommer's Peru book, about the altitude. Cusco is right around 2 miles above sea level, so the air is pretty thin. I didn't notice anything at first. I made sure that we followed the prevalent advice to take things slow. The hostal where we stayed (the Hostal Rumi Punku, highly recommended) sent an employee and a taxi to pick us up at the airport. By the time we got to the hotel, I thought we were doing pretty good. That was until I tried to lift the suitcases up 4 stairs. I got lightheaded pretty quickly as my body tried to get oxygen that just wasn't available. I left the suitcase moving to the hostal staff. While we were getting our registration filled out, we drank some mate de coca, which is supposed to help minimize altitude sickness. It seemed to help, but so did not lifting heavy suitcases up and down stairs.

We had been told to not do anything for the first hour or so, not even sleep. So we stayed in the room and indulged in some TV. It was fun watching something in English and seeing how close the Spanish subtitles matched up to the actual dialogue. After 3 hours or so, we decided to go out on the town. We lazily walked towards the Plaza de Armas and went into a few shops along the way. The whole time we were accosted by various people selling stuff like paintings, shoe shines, necklaces, and massages. It was a rude awakening to the fact that we were now in a tourism dominated area and I quickly learned an important phrase: "No gracias!" I would have other phrases at my command by the time we left Cusco for Lima: "Ya tenemos" (we already have, for the souvenir sellers), "Ya comimos" (We already ate, for the menu hawkers), "Ya fuimos" (We already went, for the Machu Picchu tour guides). Don't get me wrong, our time in Cusco was hardly filled with fending off people trying to separate us from our money, it just happened to be the most annoying aspect.

On our first full day, Saturday, we had to buy our train tickets for getting to Aguas Calientes. After we had the tickets in hand, I looked at my watch and saw that somehow the time had gotten away from us and I really wanted to see the ruins at Sacsayhuamán. We picked up a taxi-driver that took us back to the hostal and then to the ruins. We got a guide at the ruins, but we didn't really need one (Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo were both larger and we managed to find our way around those two sets of ruins). He told us a mix of speculation (what the place was used for) and stuff that was obvious (the difference between Incan stonework and restoration efforts). After walking around for a while, we decided to head on back to the hostal. We had thought about seeing some other ruins nearby, but decided against it as our stomachs were complaining loudly.

When we got back to the hostal, I found that the time hadn't gone as fast as I had thought. At some point while walking to the train station, I had hit the "Set time" combination on my watch and inadvertently set it forward either 3 or 4 hours. I reset it and we went in search of a quinta (restaurant with outdoor seating) that Frommer's had said was close by. At the quinta, I decided to knock off one of my TODOs. I ordered Cuy Choctado. I have put a picture below for context, but to minimize the grossing out factor, I put further pictures in the "Peruvian Food" link to the side.

After lunch, we walked around some more and bought more souvenirs. We went to a show in the evening that featured some dances and music from various Pre-Columbian cultures and then went back to the hostal to repack for the trip to Aguas Calientes the next morning. I'm going to skip ahead in the timeline and leave Aguas Calientes, Machu Picchu, and Ollantaytambo for future posts. However, we returned to Cusco a day earlier than initially planned, Tuesday, as we found that we wouldn't have to stay in Ollantaytambo overnight (more on that in a later post). We went to a museum and walked around some areas beyond the Plaza de Armas which we had not yet visited. We finished our souvenir shopping. I decided to get some more artistic photos also.

On Thursday, it was time to leave Cusco. It happened to rain for most of that morning and when we got to the airport, we were greeted by long lines. It was a bit unnerving as the time went but we hardly moved. Finally we got to the front desk and were informed that as a result of cancellations earlier that day, we had gotten bumped to stand-by. The first guaranteed seats were not available for another 7 hours. So, despite getting up early and getting to the airport with plenty of time to spare, we spent an extra 7 hours in Cusco. We decided to just wait it out in the airport. I taught Amy how to do Sudoku. She picked it up pretty quickly and in hardly no time had solved three without my help.

Eventually, we got on the plane for the trip to Lima and the last major leg of the trip.

Disclaimer: While in Peru, Amy and I managed to take around 2250 photos, much less than our preparations, but still over 6GB worth. The pictures that we post online are, understandably, a small subset. The ones about which we blog are an even smaller subset. If you want to see more pictures, there are a couple of links on the side-bar. I will be uploading over the span of a few days and blogging could take a couple of weeks.

Peru Trip Timeline: Part 2 - Trujillo Part 2

2008-11-07T00:00:00.007-05:00

I didn't quite finish with the Trujillo part of the Peru trip in my last post.

As the week drew to a close, it seemed that the days got busier. We hadn't quite seen everything and everyone yet. On Wednesday, we went with Micah, some ladies from CBT, and a Presbyterian medical missionary to go to a Bible study at the local women's prison. We knew we wouldn't be allowed to take cameras in, so we didn't bother taking it at all. It was disappointing to not get pictures, but it was also freeing to not worry about the possibility of it getting stolen.

After lunch, we met Jorge and took a bus out to his house in Huanchaco, a beach-side suburb of Trujillo. We had only traveled in taxis up to that point, so it was a good experience riding the bus. After catching up a little with Jorge's wife Nancy, we, along with Jonathan, headed to downtown Huanchaco to walk around. Jonathan wanted to get in on the photo-taking fun. After walking around, we went and got some picarones, which are like donuts, but covered in honey.

When we got back from Huanchaco, we met up with Liana, one of Amy's friends that has been working at the CBT school for some time, and went to get some dinner (yes, after the picarones). While walking, we saw something rather strange…Also, note the gas prices.

Those prices are in Nuevo Soles, which hovered around 3 for 1USD during the whole trip.

On Thursday, we went with Isabel to the Huaca de La Luna, which is a construction from the Moche civilization which predated the Incan civilization. You can read the Wikipedia article for the speculative facts. Below are some pictures of some of the restored wall paintings and site overviews. Also, we saw a few examples of the Peruvian Hairless dog.

On Thursday evening, we went to prayer meeting at CBT and afterwards we said goodbye to friends. On Friday morning, a day that had quickly come, but we wished had not, was upon us. Uncle Bert & Aunt Colleen drove us to the airport where we had to say goodbye.

More to come starting with the flight to Cusco.

Disclaimer: While in Peru, Amy and I managed to take around 2250 photos, much less than our preparations, but still over 6GB worth. The pictures that we post online are, understandably, a small subset. The ones about which we blog are an even smaller subset. If you want to see more pictures, there are a couple of links on the side-bar. I will be uploading over the span of a few days and blogging could take a couple of weeks.

Peru Trip Timeline: Part 1 - Trujillo Part 1

2008-11-05T00:00:00.011-05:00

On 9 October, Amy and I left RDU in the early afternoon bound for Lima with a layover in Miami. We had an hour-long delay in Miami due to storms. That was somewhat of a blessing as we would be staying in the Lima airport overnight and wished to spend as little time there as possible. The delay ended up shaving about 45 minutes off of the wait, but every little bit helps right?

Here I am with my first taste of Inca Kola on Peruvian soil. It's much better made with sugar than with HFCS.

We flew out of Lima the next morning for Trujillo. We stayed with Bert & Colleen Elliot, with whom Amy had spent three summers previously. They are a wonderful couple—a picture of hospitality and generosity.

Some of the scenery around the Elliot's house.

Our visit happened to coincide with the 19^th anniversary of Centro Biblico Trujillo (CBT). On Saturday we went to a local park for some games and fellowship. One of the events was a relay race where you had to go back and forth between two clothes baskets and put on a piece of clothing from each until there was no clothing left. Another was a "triathlon" that involved jumping over or going under ropes, riding a bike around the park, and then riding a skateboard up and over a hill. There were numerous other events, but these provided some decent pictures.

I lost the relay, but I won the triathlon.

That evening, Amy and I walked to the Plaza de Armas (of Trujillo). My first impression is that Peruvian municipalities aren't obsessed about architectural hegemony.

On Sunday, we attended morning worship at CBT. That evening, we went with Isabel to have dinner with the Leyton's—a family that attends CBT.

On Monday, we visited the school that the church started. On the way back to the Elliot's house, we stopped in the Botanical Gardens to look around. We were surprised to see an alpaca. We then celebrated Isabel's birthday with her family at her house. That evening we went to a restaurant owned by the son of a lady that attends CBT and had chicken kabobs.

On Tuesday, we spent time at CBT talking with Sarita. Then after lunch, we went to La Esperanza—a suburb of Trujillo—to visit a ladies Bible study with Conchi—cooks for the Elliots. While Amy was spending time with the ladies, I talked with Leonel. I practiced Spanish and he practiced English.

That evening, there was a Bible study in the Elliot's home in which Amy and I were able to participate. I surprised most of them with my pronunciation when reading part of the story of the Prodigal Son. The attendees of the Bible study wanted to celebrate Isabel's birthday, so they took her out to dinner afterward. Unfortunately, my stomach had been giving me fits for a couple of days, so I opted out of the celebration—though it looked like fun—and went to bed early.

We spent a week in Trujillo and there were a couple of side trips, so I will continue with those in the next post.

Disclaimer: While in Peru, Amy and I managed to take around 2250 photos, much less than our preparations, but still over 6GB worth. The pictures that we post online are, understandably, a small subset. The ones about which we blog are an even smaller subset. If you want to see more pictures, there are a couple of links on the side-bar. I will be uploading over the span of a few days and blogging could take a couple of weeks.

Thoughts From the Peru Trip

2008-10-31T00:00:00.009-04:00

Before the trip, I proposed an idea to Amy; that we journal our thoughts and goings on each day. For the most part, we managed to get the time to write every day, though we ended up being busier than we had initially thought. While it is not my intention to copy each day's entry as blog posts (we were there for 18 days), I will use this post to convey some thoughts I had during the trip.

Before leaving the U.S., when we were sitting in the Miami airport waiting for a storm delay to pass, I caught a story on CNN about the DOW dropping to under 9,000 points. I remember watching the news report when it went over 9,000 for the first time—I still lived in VA. Some fellow Lima travelers happened to look at the TV for a bit and then sat down in front of Amy and I. One was a gringo, the other seemed to be of South American heritage. The gringo was trying to explain, in high-level terms, the house of cards that the stock market and the rest of our financial system is. Needless to say, it was mostly lost in translation. The one thing that Amy and I did pick up, however, was that the two were traveling in relation to a ministry. The gringo also happened to explain the fear that many people had about the stock market fluctuations. He then pulled out a piece of paper on which he had written a promise he had heard at a recent gathering: "We don't have to worry. God will take care of us because we are taking care of His children." It was a good reminder and I believe that it helped us both to relax and enjoy our time better in Peru.

Things that we tend to take for granted in this country:

Enforced traffic laws
Cold soda
Safe tap water
Consistent hot water
Flushing toilet paper

Things that we should implement in this country:

Siesta
Sugar in sodas
Less focus on stuff

It is possible to get a sunburn when the temperature is less than 70°F, especially so close to the Equator. I learned that lesson (thankfully) on the first day and applied sunscreen (liberally) to all exposed surfaces from that point on. It didn't help with the flaking skin, however.

In the southern hemisphere, the seasons are at the exact opposite time as ours. It is currently spring in Peru. The trees and grasses in Peru behave similar to the ones here in the spring. They throw pollen all over the place! Combine that with much lower, if any, pollution regulation and you should be able to guess what my nose was doing for a good part of the trip. We went to a grocery store pharmacy to pick out some allergy medicine, but the problem is that the brand names are completely different. Thankfully, however, chemical names don't change much from one language to the next. Cetirizina is the equivalent to cetirizine which is known in the U.S. by the brand name Zyrtec. And people mess with me about memorizing certain things…Oh, it seems that it is allowable to sell stronger dosages there also.

In Spanish, there are two verbs for "to know": saber [sah-berr’] and conocer [co-no-serr’]. In English, we say that we have been somewhere or have seen something, but in Spanish, you would say that you know it (with conocer). That gave me an interesting shift in thinking about visiting somewhere. Do I come back having only been there? or do I know it? I came upon this gem of language difference early in the trip and it helped me have a more thorough experience for the remainder.

Following this will be a mini-series with a full multimedia presentation of the trip. There are some good video clips and of course lots of pictures. Stay tuned!

Viajamos a Perú

2008-10-08T00:00:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow, Amy and I will be flying to Lima, Peru for an 18-day trip. We will be returning on the 26^th. We will spend one week in Trujillo, visiting with Bert and Colleen Elliot, then we will spend some time in Cusco and Aguas Calientes with the intention of visiting Machu Picchu. We will probably also visit Ollantaytambo, which sits between Cusco and Machu Micchu. It should be a fun trip and we will bring back a lot of pictures and video. We are taking 8 memory cards totaling 44GB. 12GB is for pictures (somewhere between 4600 and 4700 pictures at 5MP) and 32GB is for video (about 11 hours at standard quality).

We will be pretty busy, so I will not maintain regularly scheduled posts. I may, or may not, get a chance to post while we are there. I also will not have the photos arranged on the 27^th. Rest assured, however, we will be posting pictures and videos in due time. Hasta luego.

Duke Ducks: Part 7 - North American Wood Duck

2008-08-20T00:00:00.008-04:00

In a rare turn of events, I'm putting up two consecutive Duke ducks posts. Today I would like to show off some pictures of the North American Wood Duck. This is one of my favorites. Both the male and female have beautiful plumage, although the male's is a bit more colorful. Here is a picture of the male and female together and then close up.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of the male.

Here's a closeup of the female.

Duke Ducks: Part 6 - Hooded Merganser

2008-08-18T00:00:00.004-04:00

For this installation, I'm showing off the Hooded Merganser, a small but striking bird. The male has different plumage based on whether it is breeding season or not. The female keeps the same plumage year-round. Here is a stark contrast for the male (breeding plumage on the left, non-breeding on the right)

Here is a female and then a female swimming away.

The Hooded Mergansers at Duke Gardens seem to be fairly sociable, but most birds are when it comes to free food. They are pretty adept swimmers above and below the water. I have seen them dive for food and come up some yards away. It's quite a sight when compared with the basic dabbling that mallards do.

Duke Ducks: Part 5 - Ruddy Shelduck

2008-07-09T00:00:00.008-04:00

The Ruddy Shelduck is the most aggressive regular resident(Canadian geese are meaner) at the Duke Gardens. There were two at last count, a male and a female. I guess at the sex mainly because I see one that primarily forages and one that tends to fend off other ducks. When a human visitor is handing out food, these two will eventually be front and center with a wide swath of open water around them. Usually the male will be fending off any ducks that enter the "forbidden semi-circle". I don't like that behavior so much, so I tend to just throw bread to the outer semi-circle. The powers of deduction aren't present in most ducks, which means the shelducks continue waiting for food right in front of me even though my throws are aimed away from them. On land they tend to charge the other birds. Despite their aggressiveness, they tend towards friendly relations with the Barnacle Geese (more on them later). Now for pictures.

I thought I had more, but it looks as if I have such a dislike for these two, that I have only taken pictures of them on two separate occasions. Oh well. Perhaps on future trips to the gardens, I'll take more pictures and post the results.

Duke Ducks: Part 4 - Common Shelduck

2008-06-16T00:00:00.005-04:00

The Common Shelduck is a particularly striking resident at the Duke Gardens. At last count (Memorial Day 2008) there were still two. Their wings are clipped to prevent them from flying away (a horrible practice if you ask me, but it protects the investment to get them shipped here). They are usually docile, but here is a face-off between one and a female Muscovy duck.

The Shelduck won, I guess.

Here are the two resting late in the afternoon.

And swimming away.

Duke Ducks: Part 3 - Mandarin Duck

2008-05-30T00:00:00.011-04:00

Possibly the most beautiful duck featured in the Duke Gardens collection is the Mandarin Duck. It is among the smallest of the ducks that live there. There is one permanent resident male. I have, on some occasions, seen a female and another male. They are fairly docile and tend to stay away from the rowdier ducks, although, they don't always pass up a free meal. Below are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Duke Ducks: Part 2 - Mallard

2008-05-16T00:00:00.012-04:00

Continuing the posts about ducks in the Duke Gardens, today I'm looking at the Mallard.

The mallard is a very common bird in the Southeast U.S. so it is unsurprising that a large amount call the Duke Gardens home. While they are technically migratory and aren't clipped like most of the other species, many of the Duke mallards stay year-round. My guess would be that they like the free food from visitors.
Here's a female mallard incubating some eggs.

Here's a drake and female watching the pond.

Here's a drake that found a surprise when he landed (the blurriness is a result of the temperature).

Duke Ducks: Part 1 - Muscovy Duck

2008-05-05T12:00:00.004-04:00

To begin making due on a recent promise, I am posting about ducks in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Today's entry will focus on Muscovy Ducks.

My immediate thought when I first encountered the Muscovy Ducks was that they were one of the ugliest waterfowl I had ever seen. Just to give you an idea, here is a picture of what I deem to be the "alpha male" of the tribe that lives at the Duke Gardens in May of 2007.

They are rather large (for birds) and tend to stick together (at least the ones at the Duke Gardens do). This led me to the idea that they reminded me somewhat of cattle—flying, swimming cattle. I continued observing them on my daily walks. Unfortunately, on more than one occasion, I encountered their reproductive habits (not a pretty sight). Those grotesque acts eventually led to a couple of groups of the following.

There were some mornings that I would see a mother duck with her ducklings outside of the gardens right beside a busy road. This led me to another strong conclusion—these are stupid, ugly birds. Despite my initial negative feelings, I was intrigued and eventually enamored.

Soon after starting work at Duke, a coworker had told me that there was a large population of snapping turtles in the main pond. This spells trouble for small, weak animals, such as ducklings. So I was somewhat saddened when my counts of the ducklings decreased as the weeks passed. One week, I did not count any from one group that I had been watching. So it was quite a surprise that they showed back up a couple of weeks later, must larger. I figure that they had been in another part of the gardens that I rarely visited.

One of their favorite spots to roost was the Monet-esque bridge at the northern end of the pond.

Later on I saw some new ducks that had markings similar to the Muscovy Ducks. It turns out that "farm" ducks are the domesticated form of Muscovy and because of breeding, certain distinguishing features (the ugly red nose) are lost. The three ducklings shown above grew up into these:

Despite my initial misgivings, these ducks came to be one of my favorites. They are easy-going. Smaller species are more apt to be able to push them out of the way for food. They stick together and generally stay away from other ducks. It is unfortunate, that Amy and I have not come in contact with them in our recent visits.

Duke Gardens: Introduction

2008-04-25T13:00:00.008-04:00

I used to work at the Duke University Medical School. Because space is a premium around college campuses, I parked about a half-mile from the building where I worked and walked in every day. I was able to get in a mile walk every day as part of going to work and it just so happened that my walk took me through the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

In May of 2007, I bought a digital camera in preparation for our honeymoon trip to Maui (see here and here). Before that I would sometimes steal Amy's for the day. The camera went to work with me every day in the hopes that I would catch something cool in a picture. The gardens are beautiful year-round, but there are occasional moments when the lighting and composition line up at the right time to produce a good picture.

Most every day I would walk through "The Gardens" and on each trip I would discover something new. Perhaps my favorite part was the collection of ducks there. Ducks are fascinating creatures and I would often spend what would have been useful reading time just watching them.

Today I am announcing a couple of running series. If I have nothing else to write (rant) about, I will post pictures and stories of the ducks in the Duke Gardens. I may also, on occasion, throw in some general pictures of the gardens. For now, just to whet the appetite.