• Home
• About
• Blogs & News
• Earth & Us
• RSS

Earth & Us

After seeing several revealing videos on the Internet regarding our planet and it’s quickly changing environment, I’ve added a new page, Earth & Us, to keep track and share with others.

TSA Mission Creeping

This is an example of how the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and local law enforcement do not understands the job that they are doing.  Steve Bierfeldt was detained for carrying a cash box with about $4700.  Carrying cash on a national flight is not prohibited but the officers mission creeped trying to find some kind of illicit activity with unwarranted detention and questioning.   Watch the video.

In a conversation later, Bierfeldt made the valid argument that if everyone was OK with surrendering rights for the sake of not being inconvenienced, government would routinely step too far.

Cilantro Gone Wild

As I had mentioned in a previous post, the cilantro in our garden have been reseeding itself.  Currently all the remaining cilantro plants have gone wild and are in the process of producing seeds.  Unfortunately, the seeds are so small, I have not been able to colle

ct and move them to another part of the yard.  So we will have to wait until the new plants sprout up so we can move them to a new location. 

Incidentally, we determine that what we thought was a mutant cucumber from our 2008 spring/summer garden, was actually an underdeveloped pumpkin.  Apparently, I had tossed pumpkin seeds into the garden awhile back.  We kept the biggest gourd that was produced outside on the picnic table and it finally began to rot.  I broke it open and planted a few of the seeds.  We will see how they turn out now that I do a better job of watering the garden.  Hopefully we will have several jack lanterns for Halloween this year!

Our First YouTube Tango Video

Mardi and I are always trying to find new ways to promote our classes.  A few of our students suggested that we post a demo video so other can get an idea of what the dance is like.  We have often video taped ourselves dancing for self critique but have always refrained from posting our demos and practice dancing.  Mostly, our apprehension is from seeing all the negative comments given to videos on YouTube of dancers we consider good. 

But with some reluctance we posted one of our recent practice dances.  We figured it would mostly receive traffic from friends and locals of Georgetown.  But the next day instead of the 5 to 10 views we expected to see, we had received 20 views.  Then 20 became 50 and 50 became 100.  Soon we had over 200 views of our video within 48 hours.  At this point neither Mardi nor I had emailed the video link, so this obviously had to be some mistake with YouTube.  I soon discovered the “Insight” featured offered to the YouTube video owner which allows the owner to determine how people are discovering the video.  Apparently over 50% came from viral sources (e.g. the video link was emailed or IM), so these were all random strangers sharing our practice dance.  We did receive one pleasant comment and one unconstructive comment.  We even obtained a new subscriber and another person visited our website and asked to be added to our email alerts. 

I was able to track down one website that shared the video link.  The author of the post enjoyed our style of dance and shared with others.  Another poster replied with the criticism, ” [we should be] stepping on the beat, not after; rise and fall, not bounce; collecting the feet when correct, not forced; comfortable frame, not propped”.  I agree with the bouncing and the forced collection comments.  I should have been relaxing in the hips more to achieve a better cadencia and follow through.  However, his complaints of stepping on the beat and use a frame are actually more stylistic of ballroom dancing than milonguero tango.    What is most humorous about his post is that he also linked to a video that inspired him, which was of Chicho Frumboli (one of the best tango dancers in the world).  Some how I can’t help but feel ironically flattered.

Things To Do in Georgetown, TX

I recently saw a post on livejournal of someone asking what there is to do in Georgetown.  I would have replied but they required me to join so I will give my response here on my blog instead.

The first the obvious answers, learn to tango or get a massage.  Here are a few more…

 

Festivals & Events

• Red Poppy Festival
• Festival of the Arts
• Downtown Georgetown Events (taste of, market days, 1st Friday…) 

Shows & Entertainment

• The Georgetown Palace Theatre 
• City Lights Theatres

Social Dancing

• Argentine Tango
• Ballroom Dance
• Square Dancing

Sports & Outdoors

• Mel’s Lone Star Lanes (bowling)
• Georgetown Eagles (football) 
• Disc Golf Courses
• Blue Hole Park (swimming)
• Hike & Bike Trails
• Skate Park
• Play Scapes
• Lake Georgetown (fishing, boating, swimming, hiking)
• Dog Park
• Fountainwood Observatory
• Running Group

Eats & Treats

• Georgetown Winery
• Bar None Coffee
• The Monument Cafe
• too many to list…

 

Did I leave out your favorite thing to do in Georgetown?  Post a comment and let me know what it is.

Ice and Flowers

We woke up to ice on our witch hazel this morning.  I took several close-up photos with various backgrounds.  Several shots were very nice and I used one as a banner image for my massage website.  Here is another photo.  
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
 …

Our Winter Garden

So our winter garden flourishes with some fresh yummy veggies.  Kale, a green leafy vegetable, was planted two months ago.  Kale is considered a highly nutritious vegetable with antioxidant properties and it is very tasty.  I had so many seeds that I was able to plant another three rows of kale last week in a second garden that was newly created on the other side of the yard.  It looks like we may be eating kale everyday for several months.

Peas were also planted a couple of months ago and they have recently produced some edible baby pods.  Since I have never grown peas before now (never had a winter garden either), I did not erect trellis for every row of peas. As a result, I have had to quickly improvise some structures for the plants to attach themselves.  The original iron fence that splits the garden and some lattice & 2×4 posts were used to aid most of the peas.  But I have discovered that staking branches from some pruned trees and bushes into the ground provide very adequate and a natural support system.

We also have a cabbage and cauliflower plant that Mardi added to the garden a month ago.  So far they have not been very happy with the warm temperatures.  It always amazes me to see these plants go limp during the heat and look strong and lush in 40 degree temperatures.  Having living in hot climates for most of my life, the thought of produce growing in near freezing temperatures is a foreign concept.

In addition to the recently planted vegetables, we also have two pepper plants that survived the summer.  One is a banana pepper plant that produced a handful of veggies before the heat stopped everything in the garden from fruiting.  The other is a bell pepper plant that did not produce anything until now.  Both plants are doing well and bearing fruit.

And the final plant worth noting in our garden is the rampant growth of cilantro that is the descendants of cilantro planted two summers ago.  I have been told that most store bought veggies are bred in such a way that the offspring is not as good as the parent plant.  We found this to be true.  The second generation cilantro was awful to eat.  But I typically let my garden go wild and the third generation cilantro is as good as the first and now we have over 20 plants scattered through out the garden.  So it looks like we will be growing cilantro for quite awhile.  Maybe I need to start a separate herb garden.

Teaching on the Social Floor

When dancing tango on the social dance floor, there is a certain code of etiquette that most dancers observer.  One of the rules is to not teach on the social dance floor.  I can only guess that this rule was created because some buffoon found it incumbent to stop the flow of the dance to impart his knowledge on to his willing or not so willing dance partner.  But I also feel that this rule also means not to give unwarranted criticism or instruction even if you are not impeding others ability to dance. 

There is a certain individual who has been dancing tango for several years, who apparently finds it necessary to dispense his knowledge onto his less than expert partners.  I suppose he think he is being helpful but he has on more than one occasion frustrated, confused, insulted, & infuriated several women multiple times.  In the past he has done this to my wife on several occasions.  A friend has told me of her demeaning encounters with him.  And more recently one of my students has described a similar situation. 

In the recent example, said individual, tried to lead a cruzada with my student (who at that point had only had four lessons, and the cruzada is not a topic we cover in beginner class).  Normally a polite leader would stop attempting to lead a particular step if the follower is not responding as desired.  This means if the follower only has the ability to walk and follow weight changes then that is all the leader should attempt to lead.  Instead he proceeded to confuse her by teaching how to do a cruzada as a pattern.  “When I step on your outside two times, then on your next step you should cross.”  His little lesson ended up eroding her confidence.  Now she does not feel like she should attend any more milongas until she has more training.  It makes you wonder how many people this individual may have single handedly driven away from tango.

7 anti-aging super foods!

I am always interested in learning about foods that are healthy and beneficial.  Recently, a yahoo article was published (based on a www.EatingWell.com article) that touted seven foods beneficial for healthy aging.  You can read the articles for more details but the foods they list are

1. Chocolate
2. Blueberries
3. Fish
4. Nuts
5. Wine
6. Olive Oil
7. Yogurt

I can get on board with all of these.  At this time the most interesting food listed is the blueberry.  Since my wife and I are turning our yard into an orchard, I considering adding a few blueberry bushes.

Tis the Season to Plant a Fruit Orchard

My wife and I have a third of an acre lot with more than 30 trees of various types, shapes, and sizes.  Now being that we have so many trees for such a tiny area, one can imagine that there is not much room for new growth.  A small number of the trees are some generic type of tree (possibly a hackberry) that in my opinion are pretty much worthless to have. 

With the US economy going the way of the Hindenburg, I thought it would be a good idea to make better use of our land by planting a few trees that could actually be useful.  Hence, we are now making way for an orchard of various fruit trees.

We started in the northwest corner of our yard by taking out five small sized trees and one dead mimosa to make way for an Asian pear tree.  After about three hours of work that portion of the yard reminded me of the after effects from hurricane Ike. 

The next fruit tree my wife lined up for planting is a loquat.  If you are asking, “a low what,” then you are not alone.  It turns out that the loquat is a fruit producing Asian tree.  Her family had one in their yard when she was a child and her nostalgia for the tree has led her to make it the next pick of tree to plant.  We will probably trim one of the overgrown pecan trees to make room for this shrub-like tree. 

Next week we will need to find some room for a peach tree.  I only hope we are able to see these things bear fruit before we see a 1930s type depression.