3 days in Minnesota

Last weekend I visited the land of 1000 lakes to see Monica. Monica volunteers at the Humane society and so we got backstage passes to playing with puppies. Here is me with Ellie - a St. Bernard mix.We lucked out and also got to see the beginning of bunny agility class...yes, those are real bunny-jumps in the background....this is a subculture I did not know about.

Little bear at the zoo
Big bear
Monicle and catrabat
Here are Mike and Monica playing "Amy ball" - in which they hit a tennis ball back and forth with tennis rackets in a field and then hit the ball really hard when they want Amy to run after it.
And then, in a surprising turn of events... Its a giant carrot!!!
...that flies...

Turquoise, inflatable gerbal ball for human

Stoic bunny near our NY office on Park Ave. There is also a hello Kitty in this classic New York business world. I returned to Philly thursday night by train and then drove to a big farm 45min away late Friday night to camp with 20,000 people at the Philly Folk Festival. Many of the camps are set up into themed communities, often decked out with portable showers and temporary kitchens. I really liked the mermaid decoration on the tent below.

The general schedule of the folk festival is to laze around most of the day eating, napping (possibly on the hammock hill if you can find an open one), and visiting one of the 5 stages playing music until midnight. All these low-energy activities are just preparation for the period between midnight and 6am when the camp gets into full swing. Half the campers carry around instruments and wander around joining song cirlces or started spontaneous groups in between the camps.
I think the hammock hill was my favorite part...next to the children's stage which also held continuous performances and juggling lessons.
In the craft section of the festival, this green glass bottle christmas tree caught my eye...I like it a lot and would have liked to see it at night with lights.
Saturday night I got home around 1am and got up at 8am to take the train down to Atlantic city with my friend Ram. We took our bikes and spent the beautiful day biking to Ocean City beach, hanging out on the boardwalk, saving a lost little girl, playing in the water and then making the return trip. It was a big success win only a small sunburn.
View of part of ocean beach...it was a beautiful day! It is a trip I wouldn't mind repeating...any takers?
Once again, I am back at the airport...stay tuned for pictures from this coming weekend in Minneapolis with my dear Monica.

Cat apt1.0 launched!

After 5 months in Philadelphia, I unpacked my last box and took my last trip (not really) to IKEA. To celebrate this monumental occasion of acquiring a critical mass of crap, I hosted my first mini-dinner party. The dinner party was attended by local homeless hippies because I've spent more time putting together my apartment than making new friends (not really).

We were so excited about the crap that we continued celebrating at a Silk City, an unassuming hipster diner and dance club. We had root beer floats and then danced to good music until it was time to meet a nomadic friend at Chris's Jazz Club at Sansom and 14th.apt1.0 Official Interview

Suit: What makes apt1.0 so extraordinary?
Cat: "Well, it wouldn't have been possible without my team of houseplants. They have been dedicated to watering themselves on a weekly basis and staying green since day one...looking good is very important to the apartment."
Suit: Were you trying to recapture middle school memories with the locker-style storage furniture?
Cat: "I was actually going for more of an clean, industrial feel - think steel mill worker after a shower. This wall is also where I am going to project images - once I acquire a projector - I plan to project a static image of a steel mill."Suit: You were very clever in choosing a piece of furniture that works as a desk and a dinner table for 2-4 people, did you also have metal-workers in mind here?
Cat: "No. I am actually part magpie, so I just gravitate toward shiny things..."
Suit: Damn, that is an awesome couch
Cat: "Yes, yes it is."

Chris and the Cat

Enter: buddy Chris
We did a massive workout, then went to the Italian market and bought a bunch of cherries and a gallon of water. Since we both like cooking and shiny things used for cooking, I bought this pan...either I have a really small stove top of this pan is tremendous (come visit to find out!!)
Chris and I at the science museum learn things about getting dizzy...
...and about how dominoes often fall down when you are almost done setting them up...
We biked along the river and watched this group of roller-skaters that had an awesome vibe going.
On the Monday afterward, I headed to New York for a new project - here is the view from my room in the Palace.
Last weekend I got back to my roots and went out for Dim Sum with my buddy Shawn from work and his new wife, Anita. Mmmm, sweet tofu soup and custard buns...

Cats go to the jungle

Over the 4th of July weekend joined my friend Kirk and his friend and sister in the Darien jungle. The Darien is on the border with Colombia, but we were in an area that has very little FARC acitivity...surprisingly, the former comment did little to calm my anxious parents, especially since they recently lost a bunch of kidnappees.

The Darien region only has a population of 6000 people despite being the second largest region in Panama - a country of 3.5mil people. After spending 3 days in the jungle, I can see why. The environment was far from comfortable, often characterized by heat, humidity, a constant presence of biting insects, venomous frogs, and snakes, and a huge population of plants that sting or have large spikes. Nevertheless, as you'll see below, it is a beautiful and strange region, worth having experienced :)

Monica, Kirk, Jason and I departed from Panama city in the "plane" going to La Palma "aiport" - read: took off in a tin can that landed on a gravel road.
Despite the 45min flight, 60 min van ride, 2.5h boat ride, and 15 min hike it took to get to the very remote lodge in Punta Patina, it was surprisingly quaint with little hedges (filled with butterflies) surrounding 10 little cabins next to a lodge with a big community room and veranda.
There were a lot of insects...everywhere. This picture is roughly to scale.
Here is the veranda that looked out over the canopy. Before breakfast we would use the binoculars to spot big birds, iguanas, and monkeys near the top of the forest. The hammocks were perfect (as long as there was at least a slight breeze).
Here is the front of the dugout canoe (with motor) as we headed out to the Embera village. We got lucky and saw what is involved in making one of these...read further....
Occasional fisherman stand in small fishing boats..
Headed up a river toward one of the Embera villages...pretty serene.
We were welcomed by a crowd of about 20 villagers who walked with us for 20 minutes to the village. All the open huts are raised above the muddy and buggy ground. Only the wealthiest families can afford walls.
This was apparently a less muddy day
We are on our way to virgin forest! ...at a quick pace
on the way back, we met up with the men of the village who were working on pushing the makings of a new canoe through the jungle. When we found them they were about 30 m from the stump and progress looked dismally slow. They cheered when they saw Kirk and Jason who both weighed twice as much as any of the local villagers.
Thrilling musical and dance performances were part of the program
Cat and Kirk doing a little work while waiting for the very delayed tin can to arrive.

No horrible diseases yet!

Panama team goes to the jungle!

The end of the Panama study is upon us and to acknowledge the momentous occasion, we decided to go on a tour up the Chagres river and visit an offshoot of the Embera tribe.
The Embera tribe is from the Darien jungle (on the border between Panama and Columbia), but two families several decades ago decided that they could make a better living , while maintaining their traditional lifestyles if they moved to this national park reserve.

A 60 min bumpy/windy van ride was followed by a 45min boat ride up the crystal clear waters of the Chagres to where we hiked to a waterfall.I am not sure what Hugues is celebrating in this picture, but there were certainly many aspects of the day worth being excited about. However, Rohit and Jorge seem underwhelmed.
Typical of days where I skip my mid-morning snack, this lunch looked like the tastiest food I had ever seen. It was fried, fresh fish (heavy on the salt) and smushed and fried plantain disks (I am sure there is a more appetizing name for those...).
Now, I am not a huge political activist, but if there were a special interest group working to replace pigeons with friendly green parakeets that eat Doritos and will sit on your finger as long as you let it, I would be a proponent.
The largest of our team members gets a second temporary tatoo...they go on light and get much darker by the next day. (Unless you challenge the biggest guy on the team to an underwater swimming competition in the river with a pretty strong current and loose pretty decisively.)
My favorite part of the jungle trip (other than the super adrenaline rush of climbing up the waterfall against the flow of current struggling to find handholds that would prevent being thrown down the rocks under the pressure of the current) was definitely seeing the Shaman's garden of magical plants. I have a PhD so I have a strong understanding of magic and elves, but even these plants were quite impressive.
There was one stem of a leaf that he gave each of us about 3mm to chew and felt like pop rocks and then turned our mouths numb for about 10min. We all wished we had gotten more...
Stay tuned for the 4th of July trip to the home of the Embera tribe. It is sure to be unbearably hot and humid and fraught with adventure.

Pole vault buddies are special

Cat and Nate outside the Museum of Art on a perfect early-summer eveningEnter: jazz, Artemis, sangria, cheese and berries
Enter: fountains, sunset, and walking in fountains (...ah!, cold!)
Peaches can range from being tasteless and stringy to being the most sublime God-nectar I can imagine. These peaches were the latter.
We biked back up the path from the weekend before and this time stopped in Fairmount park's cemetary. It was a glorious day to honor the history of those who have passed away and contemplate our culture's ritualistic treatment of the deceased.
Gravestones often invoke emotional images for me, but this one is particularly powerful...There just isn't anything more fascinating and inspiring than the lives of the people around us. History is happening right now!
wow, what a great day!
Despite the long bike-ride the day before (not to mention the drinks and dancing later that night), we got up on Sunday and polished off the weekend with some pretty nasty stair sprints and Dim Sum in Chinatown.