Just visted a sweet $950/month one and half floors bachelor pad in Buck Town. The bedroom in on the second floor overlooking the living room. I would have taken it but it's about 8 blocks from the nearest L-train and that's a big no no.

It would have been a great place for parties, but you wouldn't be able to get anyone to attend it because its inconvenience.  

The search for a new place to live continues.

Running a marathon is a piece of cake. You just need to survive the last 10 miles of it.

I slept past midnight the night before the run. Bought my cofee at the local Starbucks before taking the L train to Jackson just shy after 6.00 am. There were ten of us runners in the Chicago station. The trip just took five minutes. No words were exchanged, just meaningful glances, good luck.

6.30 am I met Catherine in an overcrowded (yet another) Starbucks down the loop, the place was buzzing with chattering would be marathoners, with their outfits and temporary tatooes on their arms (”Go LiZ”, “Don't stop John”, “Keep Running Bob”, you get the idea).

I had no idea that Catherine would be my running partner until the dinner the previous night before. See, I don't run under my name in this marathon. A friend of mine dropped out of the race because she felt she didnt' train enough for the run. She told me that about 4 weeks before the race. Ouch. So I took her slot and started my flash marathon training.  Well, for better or worse, Catherine got a new, quite unexpected running partner. I was assuming I would be running alone this marathon.

The wheather goddes blessed us with a mild wheather this early in the morning, bucking the trend of Chicago fall temperature(which lies between cold to very very cold)

We left to Grand Park, a couple blocks to the East, where the racers assembled. It was not unlike a carnival actually, with white tents erected everywhere you can see, dotted with throngs of portable toilets (quite busy).

The main concern before the race is emptying your bladder. See, before the race, you want to hydrate your body as much as possible. The problem with that is out in the open  in the early morning, is very conducive to peeing, and there are very limited toilets available compared to the number of participants.

There were around 40 thousands people participating in this race. A select few will be running under competitive categories. Those people can complete the marathon around 2 hours mark. Chicago marathon is known as the fastest in the world. For the rest of us, “civilians“, we can self select to a group of “pace team“. A Pace Team is a group of runners who determine to finish the run under a certain amount of time. So you'll have 3:50 pace team, 4:00, 4:20 etc.

We picked 4:30 pace team.

40 thousands people is a lot of people. The race started at exactly 8.00 am in the morning, at the sound of the gun. Our section passed the starting line about 15 minutes later.

We took our first potty stop at the first mile. It was a decision which turns out later to be a good one. The line to these rows of portable toilets were short. It was our first and last potty stop in the race.

When we passed the 4 miles mark, there were another rows of portable toilets section available and the lines were twice as long.

The first 10 miles of the run is uneventful. Piece of cake. It was fun running amidst the encouragements and funny signs from the spectators on the route. Man, you get so much buzz from the spectators. What an amazing sights. It was the funnest 10 miles I've ever had.

I was in the lookout for friends that promise to be on the sidewalk cheering for us. To no avail, we saw nobody until the finish of the race (they were there, but they couldn't see us, neither do we)

Keep running, hoping your knee won't buckle under the stress of pounding hard surface.

Then we hit half way, 13.1 miles. It started to get hard, but manageable.

The hell of that race started at 16 miles mark, the realization that you still have 10 MORE MILES to cover, while your feet started to ache and your energy reserve started to drain away.

16-19 miles was the make or break miles for me. There were so many times in those miles where I was tempted to stop running and walk. Your mind started to play tricks on you, c'mon, stop running and the pain will go away. 16 was the miles where I put on my mp3 player and started blasting “thunder road“ through the earpieces.

At this point, every water stop was a blessing because it allows 10 seconds or so rest on your throbbing legs. Each water stop is a garbage dump, thanks to thousands of paper cup thrown to the road by the races and the road around it was always sticky due to the spilled Gatorades.

At the end of miles 19, I told Catherine we were going to make it, having  a perfect run where you run the whole 26.2 miles without having to resort to walking some part of the race.

Wohoo.

Something magical happened at mark 20. Our pace actually increased. The post 20 miles mark is the danger zone where many runners hits the WALL (it's the endurance limit of many runners, where you cannot continue running anymore and must walk to finish the marathon). Not to us. We were zig zaging runners who have started to walk.

Our fastest miles were our last 6 miles. I still had no idea who that could have happened.

We got separated in our last 200 feet to the finish line as at this point, we were entering a crowded zone with finishing runners. She finished 4 minutes earlier that I did.

So yeah, it was worth it. We had a perfect 26.2 miles run and the 4:47:10 finish ain't that bad.

I'm still recovering today, limping around with knees that hurt like a motherfucker.

It's still worth it. One item crossed from my “things to do before I die” list.

Chicagoan has been living under the grey sky for a couple of days now. It sucks  missing days of the precious summer.

The weather pretty much cancelled a lot of night time social activities, which is pretty nice in a weird way because I can concentrate working on silverkey expansion to Egypt and Morocco without envying all my other mid 20's friends why they can have care free time in summer and not me. 

But hey, if you are in Chicago, my buddies at LongDistanceRunner is playing at Schuba's tomorrow night at 9 pm.

“A day in Darfur is as close as you'll ever get to walking back and forth through the looking glass. In Darfur you might, as I did, witness an eight-pound 3-year-old who will be dead in a few hours; then the next day you're back in the United States, where 60 percent of the population is overweight.

This is something few can grasp even if they see it. I spent a troubled period recovering from injuries received in the Vietnam War. After that I believed I was immune to personal tragedies. I'm not. Darfur is as close to hell on earth as we can imagine.

The situation in Darfur is not an American issue. It is not a European issue or an African issue. It is the most fundamental statement of what we stand for as members of the human race. The slaughter and rape of hundreds of thousands of people is not acceptable by any standard of humanity. If there is ever a time the international community has to come together, and do so in a decisive fashion, it is now. “ (Washington Post)

We need boots on the ground and for those boots to kick some asses, hard.

Wow;
She knew how to attract my attention;
Slowing walking accross a room of 15 conversations
gliding with her graceful stride
in a white tops and orange skirt
her soft tanned skin accentuate her beauty
one look, no words, a pair of smiles
breaking my resistance not to ask her name
and she lives around here
and sure she'll see me tomorrow

They are the best band I've seen this year. Awesome. I'm like, totally, a fan now.

My buddy at http://forallicare.com playing their big gig tonight.

Somebody is searching “dody sex girls photo” on MSN.

An explanation:

15 minutes of firecrackers in the sky moment can do wonders to your well being.

”where do you live?”

“a couple of blocks away”

“ah, so you are those Loop guy”

“nope, I am a Gold Coaster”

“It's all the same”

“Nah, we have the beach, they got the train”

A friend was taken to a swanky club in Chicago where people spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on liquors and stuff like that. He came back impressed.

I told him “dude, if you can't get a girl with a six pack, a 600 dollars champagne will not help”.

That's the theme of Edward's speech. He's good, that's why he got the bick bucks.

“Hope is on the way”

“tomorrow will be better than today”

"She thinks she's alone," says Edwards. "But tonight in this hall and in your homes, you know what? She's got a lot of friends."

The key in everybody's mind is whether Kerry can measure up in delivering his speech tomorrow.

The burger was OK and it cost an arm and leg. No wine nor soda, just water. And the waiter was lousy. On a Monday night.

In return, I got a deep and moving conversation with a friend who I've known for almost 2 years but not really ever talk to.

Tonight we talk.

About her life, about her loss of a father when she was 14 and being raised by a single mother. About a roommate that always want to compete with her. About her motivation. What drives her. Why she cried before her birthday (and last year's that she hated;and the birthday flowers I sent to her work this year). Her architecture work. Her sense of design. About her dream of moving overseas. 

About people, dating and being cool. About intellectual put downs by friends who think they know it all. About being quiet at office. About her cool mix and match apparels;and shiny work shoes. About sell out working in a big corporation. About urban design. About outlook of life. About growing up with two brothers.

About the craving for the stupid burger. About her philosophy. The book she reads. About her friends. About her observation.

About my stupid jokes.

I'm relieved to finally gaining an understanding of an enigma that has puzzled me since I've known her.

Mouna, Pam, Gaigi

the definitive guide to 'friends with benifits' 'amigos con derechos' whatever you call it... belle's finally written it up.  read.  don't weep. (Sarah)

Watching DNC Convention Day 1 on http://www.c-span.org/watch/cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS. Waiting for Bill Clinton to come up.

He's on.

Post: Man, he's good. Best Line “strength and wisdom are not opposing values”

Hola world,

Gaigi, the French Speaking Arab Muslim bastard from Tunisia is in town . We're out drinking tonight.

postmortem: Met Gaigi and Pam at PickmeUp cafe with Mouna, Andrea and Mark. Had  a blast.

I was on a conversation the other day and she asked me “what was the turning point in your life?”. I told her “13, when I left home in the pursuit of knowledge”.

I found myself surprised with this answer because I had never described my leaving home (a house, a neighbourhood, an island and 8 years of childhood memories) for one very fine high school 13 years ago as a pursuit of knowledge. But it is essentially is.

13 was the point of no return, where I had my first step into the unknown without looking back, learning the ropes of life pretty much on my own. I was nomad in training.

That time was still vivid in my memories because the impressions of navigation life by my own compass for the first time was pretty much burned into my consciousness, that instict to sought knowledge and insatiable thrist for understanding. 

The funny thing is that I'm not very keen on gaining knowledge from universities or any formal training ground. Yes, my university in Australia was one of the best for the profession I choose to be in, but for me those are just a price of entry.

The messy real world is so much more interesting  to me where I will have to deal with complexities and side effect of unintended consequences in observing a certain theory or knowledge. I hate “assume this doesn't exist....”, the idea of that it is possible to think in a vacuum.

And this outlook started in 13. I have enough grounding from my family about the rights and wrongs, but I was forced to make decisions on the greys chasm between this two concept myself. The book I read at that time didn't help and no one can help me because they didn't know where I came from (I was quite a serious kid :P) School didn't help to find the answers I seek so I started my own school in my head and came the bold statement of “i'll have my own university when I'm 26”. All my highschool friend knew about this grandious and lofty goal, 13 years ago.

Well I'm 26 now and I think I'm still gonna do it. The form has evolved but the concept is still the same and we will not replicate the traditional form of teaching, but using experience and thoughts as a foundation of learning.

Streets line up neatly down here in Chicago downtown, a series of quite perfect grid that give birth to numerous intersections and its buddy, traffic light and its bastard cousin, a stactcato driving experience in rush hours. But there is little concern of the traffic on the street on this windy night. It is the off traffic, pedestrian, that you must worry about. Make sure you turn your GPS gadgeton because it takes quite a skill to navigate this human traffic as it seems that there's always somebody zig to your zag in your effort to get closer to your destination.

Our destination tonight is the newly christened Millenium Park, a series of Urban Design development neatly placed next to the prime Michigan Avenue. Basically it's a park with cool new concert theatre by Frank Gehry [and some other minor albeit cool details]; You cannot miss the park because of Frank's signature sclupture can be seen from away. Once you reach the park, do not enter though as our real destination is actually  a show called "This American Life" and the park is just conveniently located next to the place where the show plays.

"This American Life" is a popular NPR (National Public Radio) show hosted by this guy named Ira Glass. He's popular enough to generate several thousands passionate groupies usually reserved for drugged abused aging rock n roll star (i'm exxgerating here, a bit). The show tells the story, real story, of Americans, ordinary ones they say, a short snippets of their lives.

I've never heard his show before and tonight I'm here on the floor of an open theather (actually is a rooftop of a building, what a novel idea)  on the ground, my eye level at the bottom of a clusters of seating-lucky-bastard people, trying to enjoy his show for the first time. Not enough seats for everbody;it's a free show; so complain is not tolerated with pain of guantanamo imprisonment.

Boy, this rooftop is packed; I was praying for a riot, but it seems to be that mots of NPR listeners are well behaved intellectuals, no luck here.

I admit I had no idea what kind of show this one turns out to be. We are facing a blank concrete wall and on my right there is a small stage with a band set up (guitars, a black sleek grand piano, and other instruments) and some microphone. We were mainly lighted by the bright lights of hte surrounding sky scrapers. Quite a sight actually. You can see the clouds, illimuniated with brownish light, racing through the dark sky. If you must know, yes, there's a big butt in dirty blue jeans elevated on a steel chair just about 4 yards off my face, but I try not to pay any attention to it. The ground has a rough feel to it, some sort of coarse floor you see in a place where they don't want old people to fall when itss weet.

It's a quite a cold night, but with the sardines in a can arrangement of tonight's show, it helps bring a relieve, powered by human radiator.

Two class of people, the seater and the grounder. I'm the grounder.

Me and my own people create a cluster on the ground next sandwiched between two round clusters of  seaters. If you are hovering above us like a lost angel, our cluster shapes like a sand glass clock.

A voice comes out of thin air,quickly dominating the quite chattering noise and everybody quiets down. It's a warm, young voice, a voice belongs to, if I try, a mid thirties man, specifically design to sound real real good on microfone and project warmth and funny feeling just by spoken words. The crowds went wild and bras thrown out to the stage [sorry,twas different show].

He continued speaking, narrating a story about a boy name Tim, a chicago primary school boy who's obssessed with this one building in the city. This was back in 1960's. The narration follows a series of cartoonish slides depicting the event in ths story. It works better than  you can imagine [think Toy Story, but before Walt Disney invented animated movies]. The narrative follows smoothly combined with the jerky switching of one slide to another. Somehow they just fit together, smoot and jerky, Ying and Yang.

Story continue, the building that TIm loved, The Building, is about to be torn down, to be replaced by a new building to take in its stride. For the next 7 minutes we hear, filling in our imagination, on how this young little kid try to save his beloved building, going meeting the corporation CEO office and getting this gem told to him "you know kids, I'm glad you like the old building, I hope you will find the same qualities in the new building that you will like". This building is not the only building torn down in the city, but as Tim Said "Not all building are the same. Some building has characters and talks you".

This sad story continues as Tim pass by the building everyday its various stage of destruction, it's marvelous details torn down by cold big machineries designed to destruct oh so efficiently.

Tim has a friend call Richard. They have been sneaking to the scafooolded buuilding at night and try to experience. Tonight was their rendveous again but Tim could make it. And that was the last missed appointment Tim has ever made with Richard. Richard was missing for a couple of days and Time with as earc h time try desperately to find his frine din the amonghst the debris in of the torn building. A month later the body of Richard is found under the rubble.

Tim is now grown up and work in the city. The new building has been erected on top of his Building but he's still sad.

Story ends.

I must warn you my recollection ofhte story was sketchy. I forget to bring my note.

The whole story took about 30 minutes. It's a story telling. A good one. One I've heard before, but not in America. Now I understand the appeal. Just hearing stories thorugh the radio waves and let words paint your imagination. We were kids again.

This guy is good.

Took this picture three weeks ago.

If my estimation is right, I would have worked 60 hours by the end of Wednesday night.

goddamn.

My immune system is struggling to contain the onslaught of Flu virus.

”Even in a city with a worldwide reputation for innovative urban design, the opening this month of a spectacular new park and performance center near Lake Michigan promises to be a huge event.” (NYTimes)

3 am in the morning, stunning silence, waken up, “I'm cold”, “come here”, she slid in and she fit. 

Here's a peek what I'll be doing this summer.

1. Attending Henry George School of Social Science (starts 6/18)
2. Hanging out with folks at Diamond Way Buddhist Center (met Juan from the center at a meetup last week) on some Mondays.
3. Taking my Arabic Classes in at least once every two weeks.
4. 40 miles and 400 laps a week.
5. Doing Sidewalk Sessions, my duo project with Jose, playing guitars and singing on the street of Chicago.
6. Work like a dog.
7. Helping the LakeViewPantry with cooking. Making consideration for starting Dody's Kitchen.
8. Attending at least one of Common Ground  lecture.
9. Do two more visit to the Museum of Art.
10. Going to 3rd Annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival. See “Writers on the Borders : a Journey to Palestine + Visit Iraq + Samir Abdallah“ this Sunday (6/13).
11. Check out  Instituto Cervantes Chicago
12. Hang out at the Illinois Humanities Council
13. Check out the movies at Facets Multimedia, especially “2nd Annual African Diaspora Film Festival“ (6/11 - 6/17)
14. Check out DuSable Museum of African American History.
15. 6/26/04
    12:15pm - 1:00pm
    Chicago
    Chicago Taiko Legacy
16. Hang out at the Newberry Library
17. Check out Well Street Art Festival (6/11-6/12) . Done. Photos.
18. Check out Chicago Blues Festival (6/11 - 6/12)
19. Check out Lincoln Park Festival (6/19 - 6/20)
20. Join Public Square's Cafe Society.
21. Check out Taste of Chicago (June 25 - July 24)
22. Take one class at The Wodden Spoon.
23. Teach Vipassanna meditation to a friend.
24. Apply to WoodSmyth's woodworking classses.
25. Chicago Summer Dance baby. (6/17 - Flamenco Rumba)
26. Do Kayak Chicago.
27. Get a bike.
28. Check out Rhythm
29. Finish “Defender of Islam ..“

”you are too poetic, a dark and tormented soul”  (from a friend)

Dear Dody,

Hear the buzz before the book. Bill Clinton's speech before a packed house at this
year's BookExpo America is now available at http://www.audible.com/emails/billclinton/  

Download it now at no charge, and keep checking our home page for the imminent 
release of Mr. Clinton's mammoth memoir. (We'll have it for you as soon as it is 
available.)

You may also share this e-mail with your friends. Let them know that Audible 
is allowing everyone to download the speech at no charge.

Sincerely,

The Audible Team

Remember the drama I had with a girl I'm crazy about whose  deeply infatuated with my best friend. Ah, the trouble of being accidently in love.

Well, he didn't know. So I told him. And I told her I told him. I wish both of them good luck.

Just because I am sad, it doesn't mean other people cannot have a shot at being happy. One thing I am not is petty.

This might sound stupid, but I've thought this through and I'm glad I made it. It sets me free. My attachment to her has caged me for almost a week, questioning things over and over again, and ack! start doubting myself. My ship is tied to a stuck anchor while the storm is brewing on the horizon. I must cut it off. And now I'm on full sail again.

It's not “if you love her, set her free“, instead it's “if you love your life, set yourself free“.

We would have been great together (she's a great gal; a perfect-imperfection girl if such person exists) and I'm rarely wrong about this. Sorry babe, you had a key to the Room of Kings, and decided to turn away instead. This time all that glitter is indeed gold.

Well Digs,

It's a let go, move on, take the train trip ending. Another dead cold bitter end. Next time do me a favour, hold me back from falling for someone so bad. It's probably time for a travel season again.

Jose and I had our first practice yesterday, shifting through various Beatles songs for us to play and sing on the street of Chicago this summer.

We have five songs down.

1. Day in a life.
2. Nowhere man.
3. And I love her.
4. The Ballad of John and Yoko.
5. You've got to hide your love away.

We are probably doing a set of 12 for the summer. Our first backyard concert will be in two weeks.

Two guitars, one harmonica, and one good guitar player (not me).

Never let lack of talent undermines your dellusion :)

Finally today I emerged self-quarantine and join the wonderful circle of my close friends again, watching thunderstorm passing by on a second floor balcony while enjoy my home made capirinha.

It is such a relief after finally recovering from my week long flu.

We are still going strong, not a Saturday goes by without a book review.

1. How the Markets Really Work by Joel Kurtzman.

The author cited an anecdote about a meeting between a group of Russian economists and politicians and some of its American counterparts. The Russians were trying to understand who exactly in charge of the Markets.

If you want to understand the nature of prices, read this book (why my Gucci bag costs $5000 dollars?)

The previous book reviewed here (How Market Really Works) works on the fundamental nature of market. This book address the higher issue of how information shapes market (including stock market, bond market), consideration about price and value, etc.

It's  a compact book and an entertaining to read one.

Go read 'em.

2. Hunting the 1918 Flue (by Kirsty Duncan)

What is the most devastating disease ever? Black Plauge, AIDS, EBola ? nope.

It's the 1918 Spanish flu that killed an estimated 20 to 40 million people in just ONE YEAR. 1918 is not even a hundred years ago.

And the problem is, even until right now the nature of the virus is not understood. More is known about AIDS than this flu virus.

This book chronicle the effort to exhume the bodies of the victims located under permafrost in Norwegia. Kirsty Duncan is the leader of the expedition and it tells the tale for struggle within the acadamic cirlce (back stabbing, betrayal, money, soap opera stuff) regarding the project.

The book can be a bit dry at places, but the story is gripping and the educational value about the flu (of what little is known about it) is tremendous.

Recommended.

3. Murder in the Hearse Degree (by Tim Cockey).

This book is hillarious. It's a story about an undertaker who play detective. The writing is sharp and witty and I can heartily recommend this book to anyone, even to a non-fan of this genre.

Recommended. 

Alright Kiddos, here's another batch of book reviews. It'll be a terser review this time around.

1. More Balls Than Hands by Michael J. Gelb.

This book is practically a self-help book in juggling myriad tasks and demand put upon you in your life. Bland and predictable.

Not worth your time. Skip.

2. Global Woman (Nannies, Maids and Sex Workes in The New Economy) by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild.

This is a very informative and engaging book about the phenomena of global woman workers, it's benefits and troubles (abuse).

Read.

3. Near A Thousand Tables (A history of food) by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto.

What a delightful book. I love food and this book engage you and makes you think because it brings multi-dimensional perspective on food. There are so many interesting nuggets of knowledge that you might not know about the concept of food in the book. Do you know that Cannibalism actually comes from the word Carriba because Colombus misheard Carriba (later become Carribean) as Canniba.

Read. Run.

4. Secret Justice (James W Huston)

Stupid military thriller book.

Skip. 

Alright Chicas, there's plenty of books listed today. Let me make it quick.

1. Passages by Ann Quin.

You don't know Ann Quin ? Pick this one up.

2. SurPetition by Edward De Bono.

The king of lateral thinking wrote this compact 'lateral thinking' for business by commanding people to move from a mere competition (to just barely survive) to create value monopolies to move ahead. This is practically a creativity book. It's a breeze to read and offer useful insights.

Recommended. (compact book)

3. Embedded by Bill Katovsky and Timothy Calrson.

This is a meta media report consisted of interviews and pieces of writing by journalists embedded/non embedded with the military during the Operation Iraqi Freedom last year.  The interview wit John Burns, New York Times Baghdad Bureau Chief (and the second person to win two Pulitzer prize in international reporting) is my favorite.

Recommended.

4. The Inside History on AIDS by Set C. Kalichman, PhD.

This is a sobering Q & A book on AIDS which takes you through various topics on AIDS (what is it? etc). It's a good refresher book to return to the topic again because AIDS is on the rise again (and still the biggest killer in sub-Saharan Africa).

Recommended.

5. Thinking for a living by Joey Reiman.

Another easy to read compact book on creativity. The author is a successful serial entrepreneur that in 1994 decide to leave his advertising company and decide to start yet another on based on simply selling ideas.

Recommended.

6. Special Blend : Fusion Management From Asia and The West by Lynette Lithgow.

This book does a survey coverage on Asian business practice and contrast them with Western practice in several places.

The message is interesting, but the methods of delivery sucks.

Skip. (didn't complete reading it. Snore past page 2)

7. More Than Courage by Harold Coyle.

This is a Tom-Clancy wannabe writer on military mission.

B-o-r-i-n-g.

8. Simplify Your Work Life by Elain St. James.

Self improvement book. This one can use a good one real real badly. Just as bland and sugary as two tricks blond from a Midwestern sorority.

Go read dodysm  if you want real and useful advice.

Skip. (I read page 1, 50 and 80 and bzz)

Welcome to another round of Saturday Book Review (not to be confused with NYTimes' Sunday Book Review; duh)

1. Martin Luther (The Christian Between God And Death) by Richard Marius.

This is a scholarly treatise on the life of Martin Luther. More than just re-telling the story of Luther's life, Marius ponder about the philosophy and mind of Luther at any key point of his life (such as Luther's fear of death) and provided the context and environment that makes Luther, Luther.

It's a very fascinating book but it's fuckin' hard to read.

2.  What is Gnosticism? by Karen L.King. This is THE book to read and understand Gnosticism. King pretty much busted the traditional notion that Gnosticm as some sort of “heretic version of Christianity”(and other variation) to a pre-Christian belief system that influence the organizing values system in Christianity.

Well recommended (still tough to read though;)

3. Sony (The Private Life) by John Nathan.

This is a story about Sony from its founding years up until late 90's. Nathan wrote the story of Sony from select perspective of key individual in Sony. And their story make a compelling read. The book is good until it starts exploring Sony's 80's decision to buy Columbia Pictures.

One main flaw of the book is it barely mention the development of Sony Playstation and its impact on the company.

Read the first 6 chapters. Discard the rest.

4. Time's Eye (Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter)

What if time shift happens and you end up with different period of human civilization at the same time.

This sci-fi book is a joy to read. Fun, rich of imagination, and interesting plot.

Recommended.

5. Bullets (Steve Brewer)

This  is one a  more interesting crime thriller I've read centering on a female hired killer and a Chicago cop (no they don't have sex or fall in love) much set in Vegas. There are more twist and turn in this thin book than people in a Tokyo's residential square mile.

Recommended. 

I ran earlier today, chased by the dark cloud and lost. I was drenched from head to toe, running 2 miles in the mini storm on the beach. I could see no further than 10 feet as the night approached and ferocity of rain blurred the horizon.

Half way, I found myself running alone, as other runner must have magically vanished into the air. All those sands and water and just me.

Every step weighed down by the water soaked shoes. One step, and then another, and then another, ignoring what's ahead, motivated by the sighted of Chicago skyline as a guide to home and hot shower.

I only manage to finish  two books this week (yeah I know, that's little. Go ahead and flog me) and both of them are mediocre book.

1. The Fifth Angel by Tim Green. This is another cliche infested crime thriller book. The plot is predictable and full of cheap tricks to advance its story (even porn movies have better and more coherent plots).

This book is the kind of book they force you to read when you fall into the oh, so eternal hell. Avoid, even if your life depend on it.

2. Discover Your Genius by the guy that wrote “How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci“, Michael J.Gelb (I haven't read that book). This book is a self improvement book that retell the stories and lesson learnt from 10 geniuses in history (Plato, Elizabeth I, etc).

Inspiring history in short.

The book is uneven. I like its section on Plato, Brunelleschi and Elizabeth I (Non Sine Sole Iris. gosh, love that phrase) but the rest are ho hum affairs.

My recommendation: go to the library and read the section on the aforementioned chapters. Do not buy.

Anyway I apologize for the sordid affair of this book review. I am in the processes of reading three HUP (Harvard University Press) books that so far still quite interesting. Next week is bound to be exciting.  

SilverKey is the home LongDistanceRunner website starting from tonight. Expect cool stuff to happen in the coming as we'll be working closely with them to create the ultimate indie band site. 

1. “Blue Horizon” by Wilbur Smith.

I must confess that I am a huge Wilbur Smith fan. His book is not the type of literary masterpiece or of clever narrative, but all of them have the sense of unabashed fun and adventure in colonial era and ancient Egpyt in  Africa.

Fun, adventure, Africa. Definately my cup of tea.

Blue Horizon stays true to that path.

If you are not familiar with Wilbur Smith work, this is a good book to start.

2. “Thinking How To Live“ by Allan Gibbard.

This is another heavy duty philosophy book that I refuse to finish. I know from the beginning that this book is written specifically to the academic circles, its theme to be debated endlessly by the occupants of the high towers.

It takes the central theme of the difference between normative thought and descriptive thought.

Yeah, if that theme doesn't put you to sleep already, sail ahead, otherwise avoid.

I do like its cover though. Yet another prove that to dodysm that you can only judge magazine by its cover, not books.

3. “How digital is your business” by David J. Morrison, Karl Weber, Adrian Slywotzky.

This books advocate the use of information technology to radically alter and improve the performance of your enterprise (4x, 10x performances). You only need to read the first three chapters of this book as the rest are dedicated to case studies of companies that espouse this digitization value.

How valuable is this book? If you are not familiar with the concept of digitizing business, you will reap great insights from this business, otherwise this book is  a ho-hum affair.

The central lesson of this book is that you need to automate, automate, automate as much as possible inside your organization and combine the effeciency of machine with the agility of talented people in your company. Got it?

Now I hold dear this concept because SilverKey is founded just simply for this purpose, digitizing business. Business upgrade version 3.0. Let the machine do the mundane, the predictable and the repetition, and free the human to have more time to innovate, push boundaries and play.

It's St. Paddy's day today and we have a snow storm. Yay. Steph, where are ye? And I will pray in the alter of Guinness tonight.

Mark of Long Distance Runner threw an awesome St. Paddy's day party last night. Man, the people he brought in were so diverse and interesting that I had a ball jumping from one conversation to another (surfing the waves of ideas).

Cool crowd. Interesting misfits. Party animals. Energy. Youth. Rock 'N Roll.

And no one, not single person, asked me about what I do for a living. YEAHH!!! Wow!! That's how party should be.

Stories. You. And. Me. And. US. Everyone.

Tragedy, shock, inspiration, awe.

Irish Car Bombs.

A heaven sent from Nord di Italia, with delicate lips of sweet young Summer red wine.

Art (forallicare.com) and I brought a GALLON of Jack Daniel. That says it all.

And that would be the one and only St.Paddy's celebration for me this year. What a party.

Book finished this week.

”Simplicity : The New Competitive Advantage” [Bill Jensen] -- Read Them. Bill presents an interesting  view on how to cut through the information glut and help others make decision.

“Thinker's Toolkit: Fourteen Skills for Making Smarter Decisions in Business and Life” [Morgan D.Jones] -- Skim. Spend no more than 15 minutes. Quite useful, but it doesn't present any new techniques. The insight about the unreliability of human mind as an effective decision making mechanism  in the first chapter is worth the whole book.

“Citizen Soldiers” [Stephen E. Ambrose] -- Well, this is a very engaging book about the final year of WW II, post Normandy.

”Overview: Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) is one of the most creative and celebrated artists in history. With more than 200 works from all periods of his long career—approximately 20 paintings, 30 drawings, and 150 prints drawn from major collections here and abroad—this is the first American exhibition to explore Rembrandt’s astonishing range and variety of activity as a brilliant etcher seen in the context of his paintings and drawings. Rembrandt’s Journey highlights the parallel relationships among the master’s paintings, drawings, and prints—closely examining imagery, narrative content, and the marks of the artist’s hand, as well as his approach to religious illustration in all of the media he mastered and reinvented. A closer study of the expressions, gestures, and body language of his figures will provide deeper insight into the inventive, subtle, and complex way he interpreted Biblical texts and imaginatively projected himself into them. The exhibition will focus on several of the subjects to which Rembrandt returned—portraits and self-portraits, everyday life, landscape, the nude—at various stages of his career.”

Chicago Art Institute. Ends on May 9.

Update:

That exhibition is awesome. Man, I hope that guy went to heaven, there were so many etchings taken from the Bible.

I don't cherish Friday as much as I think I should. It's probably because I don't take weekends regularly. Just one year ago I would be bouncing up and down in anticipation of incoming weekends (and work schedule in Aiesec was bad enough). What I do like is the possibility that anything can happen in a weekend, especially after Chicago is unseasonably warm right now (we got rain this morning, not cold enough for the 'good stuff' to form)

I finished two books so far this week.

1. “Renegades of the Empire”, a book narrating the story of how three developers in Microsoft set out to create DirectX. That's all you need to know. There is nothing interesting in the book.

2. “The Art of Innovation”, a book about creating culture of innovation inside a company. The book is author by the folks at IDEO, a renowned design firm. This book deserves your time.

Now let's talk about the most important developing news in this world tonight.

From Salon

”CBS apologized on Sunday for an unexpectedly R-rated end to its Super Bowl halftime show, when singer Justin Timberlake tore off part of Janet Jackson's top, exposing her breast. “

I was with the band folks down in South Chicago and the whole room erupted when this happen. Wow, what was that? It lasted about 4 seconds until the CBS folks cut it early and went to commercial. Blah.

Expect Janet to come out tomorrow and said it was an accident and she was sorry (from the captured video, it does seems that she was suprised or a very good acting on her part.). She's definately gonna get a lot of inks later on this week. She's *back* in an instant. Is she launching a new record ?

The weblog ecosystem is already full with the buzz.

It was a great game but I wonder if this incident will be remembered more than the game itself. I hope not.

And off course you can find the photographs are already online. A video can be found on this link. The key lessons here, never underestimate what geeks with Tivo can do (rewind, capture)

MTV posted the picture online and has this line “Janet, Justin Timberlake, Kid Rock, P. Diddy and a host of other hot performers threw down mid-field for a halftime show that shocked and amazed. “

(Update: I received an email already. Man, that's quick. “Hi Dody, That silvery thing is actually a nipple ring, not a pasty. Check out this link http://www.cs.montana.edu/~lindh/janet_closest.jpg“)

Anyway, no biggie.

Oh yeah, all the commercials suck.

May I persuade you to listen to three rocking tracks (pre-mastered) from my buddy's band Long Distance Runner ? They are playing at Gunther's Murphy this Thursday, January 22 (which happens to be Adam's 26 birthday) and another show on the 30 (just before SuperBowl)

Irshad Manji, the author of the aforementioned book, will appear on the 15th of January at a bookstore in Old Town at 7.15. You betcha that I'm going to be there. I have a couple of questions in store for her.

Good morning. I'm about to start my work day but let me note that the thermometer here has dropped to zero F as I write this (and this being the Windy City, it must have felt much colder outside). The real Chicago winter has arrived.

From New York Times

Until last year, few Americans felt drawn to museum shows featuring Mesopotamian antiquities. But the looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad in April focused new attention on this ancient civilization, and its glories are now the subject of two lavish shows.

The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, which has one of the world's richest collections of these antiquities, has opened a new hall to display them. “

Interesting. I may pay a visit to these collections.