Gonna get a cellphone

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Argh. I missed a one-day temp job call yesterday because I was out at the NASM. Perhaps I should get a cellphone already. I’m thinking of getting Voicestream: they seem to have the best prepaid GSM plan, and the slightly higher price of prepaid calling is a fair tradeoff for my not being bothered with a monthly bill — just like my old Globe cellphone in Manila.

Archives Damaged

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I just looked over my archive, and a huge bunch of weblog entries have disappeared since I upgraded to MT2. That server hiccup last month must have damaged my DB more seriously than I thought. Dang.

Oh, well. I won’t be bitter. I’ve turned over a new leaf, and hopefully the Wayback Machine has kept copies of the old files.

Air and Space Museum

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More on the Rico Yan hubbub. Oh, man, not Levi Celerio too! How tragic. I got to see him play the leaf exactly once in my life, and I thought it was one of the coolest things in music I had ever heard.

Anyway, I visited the Air and Space today (so fun to have everything within walking distance!), and I was slightly disappointed. Last time I was there was over a decade ago — and not much has changed since then. Many of their aviation and space exploration exhibits need updating. That aside, I enjoyed getting a peek inside a Skylab mockup, the lunar lander, and a CCCP spacesuit.

Enterprise – a bit better

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By the way, I watched another episode of Enterprise two nights ago: Oasis, about an alien girl and her father on a ship of holographic crewmen. This was a lot better than last week’s dragging “Ferengi” episode, although I can’t help but roll my eyes at seeing yet another “holodeck” episode, where holographic characters are used as convenient plot devices — centuries before the NextGen holodeck was even introduced!

I’m also somewhat disappointed with the constantly flat portrayal of Jonathan Archer as a wussy captain; I’ve seen almost zero action from him. Come on, screenwriters, you have Scott Frigging Bakula on your cast! Use his skill to the hilt!

Rico Yan Hullabaloo

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Wow, I had no idea that the Rico Yan tributes had reached such a fever pitch back in the Philippines. As Teddy Benigno puts it, the media seem to have blown him all out of proportion as though he were some sort of godlike philanthropist rather than just a TV actor who endorsed cellphones. Meaning no disrespect to Rico’s memory, of course, but where does one draw the line between fond remembrance and beatification?

And in the midst of all the hubbub, did anyone notice the passing of National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro? He was the composer of “Sa Ugoy ng Duyan”, and leaves the esoteric field of Filipino classical music with a rich heritage.

(Okay, okay, I probably wouldn’t even have noticed if Tiff hadn’t pointed it out to me.)

Lemon Pepper Salmon

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I’m grilling some salmon sprinkled with soy sauce and lemon pepper in the toaster oven right now. Any cooks out there have suggestions for other herbs/spices I can add to enhance the flavor? (Rosemary and thyme didn’t work out too well yesterday.)

The Persian Bowl

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Lots of stuff suddenly happening on employment and academic fronts; prayers being answered left and right! If all goes well, I should be employed in two weeks, at which point I will splurge on a cellphone, and perhaps a laptop. God willing.

Yesterday, I scoped out Union Station and acquainted myself with the process of getting tickets for Amtrak and MARC. From there, I walked down to gawk at the Capitol, and dropped by the Sackler Gallery. Wow, the Asian art in there is interesting: I saw an ancient Persian silver bowl with an inscription to Ataxerxes, son of Xerxes, son of King Darius of Persia, during whose reign the bowl was made. It gave me shivers, knowing that the biblical Daniel was around while this bowl was forged. There were also beautiful Japanese screens depicting scenes from the Tale of Genji, and some illuminated Koranic texts on display.

I also got a haircut, at a small African barber shop nearby, on U Street. Now I am poorer by fourteen dollars and a head of hair. (But at least I don’t look so much like Barry Manilow anymore.)