Februa

Sarah came to visit last Wednesday for a few days, leaving on Sunday evening. Neither one of us accomplished what we needed to, but spending time together was worth it. Basically we did a whole lot of nothing. On Thursday after my history class we went and had Sherpa's for lunch, I got a haircut, and we met up with some of the other Classics grad students for drinks at HalfFast. After a few hours there chatting we ate dinner at the Southern Sun. On Friday I had to work from 10 to 3, which allowed us both to work a bit. We went out to Skinny J's with Dragos and Kristen for dinner and played some pool before going back to his apartment and playing this strange board game whose name escapes me at the moment. Saturday we slept in late and then drove up to Nederland and had the lunch buffet at Kathmandu, which was excellent. They had this jalapeno & cabbage dish as well as one involving lots of okra. My mouth waters even now thinking about it. After lunch we drove around in the mountains some more, ending up over at Estes Park, which is absolutely gorgeous. It seems to be nestled in a valley-plain up in the mountains and would not be a bad place to live. It's only about 50 miles from Boulder, actually, nearly the same distance as Denver International Airport is from Boulder. When we got back into town that afternoon/early evening we went up to the humanities building on campus and spent some time reading. Later we ate dinner at Whole Foods; they have a great salad bar. We tried finding a Jason's Deli in Boulder (there isn't one) and ended up being directed to "Asian Deli" by Free411. We stopped back by the university and played some pool and bowled a few games before going back home for the night. We slept in late on Sunday again before going over to Foolish Craig's for some awesome crepes. Her flight left at 7:10 last night, so we left my place around 4:45 and stopped at Pei-Wei in Broomfield along the way. We just barely managed to get our food in time since the people working proved themselves rather incompetent. Thankfully we got there in plenty of time and ate dinner inside the airport together before she left. They were a good few days.

Cedars

In my studies I find that it is problematic, even foolish, to ignore present realities when speaking of the past. Likewise, we cannot separate ourselves from what has happened before, no matter how much we try or wish to do so. It's difficult for most people in the United States to comprehend, to wrap their minds around, what occurs in the Near East. Certainly you won't glean much useful information from any news program you might watch on the television. I've found, however, a reliable, knowledgeable, and insightful source of information on Lebanon: Michael Totten. If you have some spare time to spend reading his "blog" then you should. His site is now a permanent presence over in my links to the right. Click below or there to visit and read.

http://www.michaeltotten.com

What just might be my perfect car

I've been hearing the rumors for a while that Pontiac was going to replace the archaic Pontiac Grand Prix (seriously, the car basically dates back to the 1980s) with a rear-wheel drive sedan imported from Australia. GM owns the Australian company Holden and has previously rebadged the Holden Monaro as the lackluster and bland Pontiac GTO. However, Holden's latest sedan, known as the Commodore, is a spectacular vehicle. This is the car GM is redressing as a Pontiac, and here it is from Edmunds:




I can't wait for it to arrive at dealerships next January (2008). It'll come with either a 260 horsepower V6 or a 360 horsepower V8 and one of three transmissions, depending on which engine you choose. And all the transmissions are modern contraptions, unlike the four-speed automatic in my current Altima (I hate this transmission with a passion). Naturally I want the V8. The Holden version is even more attractive (no stupid hood scoops). This car makes me want to drive an American manufacturer again (even though the car is Australian). Unfortunately it will almost certainly be too expensive, plus it'll still be very new when my current Altima's lease is up. One can always dream, though.