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.)

Skate DC!

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Whew, that was fun! So fun, in fact, that I had reached up to the Lincoln Memorial before I realized that it was getting dark — and cold. And me in just my rollerblades, jeans, and a t-shirt. Thankfully, my exertions going back up 16th Street generated enough body heat to warm me till I got home.

The White House area is a great place to skate, since the roads in front are currently closed to cars. Lots of skaters in the area, all having a good time. (But also a few, um, fringe elements: today it was anti-nuclear demonstrators on vigil and a guy in a wheelchair screaming at the White House to “stop aiding Israeli terrorism.”) Behind it, The Ellipse is also a nice skate, and the sidewalks aren’t too bumpy around there. The Washington Monument is also encircled by a smooth pavement, but only one or two paths leading up to it are negotiable; otherwise you need to change to shoes (or sandals, in my case) and walk up to it. You can’t skate The Mall or the paths along the Reflecting Pool; they’re surfaced with bumpy stone and/or sand rather than concrete pavement. Nice for romantic promenading, though. And you can feed the ducks and pigeons.

Elsewhere in the city, the sidewalks and streets are so-so. Sometimes they’re nice and smooth expanses of concrete and asphalt, other times they’re bumpy and uneven cobble or brick. Oogh.

So, any aspiring or experienced DC skaters out there? Myself, I’m a rather conservative (read: wussy) skater, so I don’t do anything fancy, and I most certainly do not skate major thoroughfares or go skitching.

An Israeli Blog

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Hey, whoa, look: an Israeli weblog. Real interesting reading, given the current context in the Middle East. (Link via Lileks’ Daily Bleat.)

It’s such a nice day today! I think I’ll break out the rollerblades and skate to the White House.

Ninety WPM

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I’ve just returned from a temp placement agency, where they viewed my resume, interviewed me, and tested my Office software skills. I’m happy to report that I got a typing speed of 90 wpm (and here I thought I was only a 60!), got high ratings for Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, and aced spelling and grammar. I present to you… Paulo, the Uber-Temp! Yay!

My referrals just turned up this search request: “Comparing Tale of Two Cities to Star Trek.” Well, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan began and ended with the beginning and ending quotes of Dickens’ novel, which Spock presented as a birthday present to the aging Admiral Kirk. I suppose you can draw some rough parallelisms between the death of Spock in Engineering and the self-sacrifice of Sydney Carton to save Charles Darnay.

I found a little more on that here.