September 2005

today i became inspired after reading about the Millennium Goals set in place by the UN to be achieved by 2015. The engineer in me decided to dig in a bit deeper and see just what kind of statistics are being used to back up these goals where i found some really interesting information. for me, one of the most important of these goals is the eradication of poverty. during my trip through south america i witnessed first hand exactly how the greediness of a few rich people really affects huge amounts of people in the world and was appalled at how the distribution of wealth in countries like peru, ecuador, bolivia, and paraguay is horribly skewed against the vast majority of the population. What amazed me the most was that while these countries have high poverty level indicators, there are many african countries that are triple that of the andean regions. What can you and I do to help? Well for starters go see www.ONE.org and help this movement maintain its momentum.

Technorati Tags: activism, live8

![45413573][medium][alignright]yesterday was my first ride in the rain. after a decent ride home from work, i proceeded to the dojo where i get my daily fill of capoeira on the other side of town, without a second thought to the impending thunderstorms that loomed to the north. As a matter of fact, i was in such a great mood to start the workout i left behind any kind of rain gear i might have normally tried to wear. as it was, the rain began to fall with cat-n-dog intensity half way through class, drowning out the instructors voice, and the berimbau on the tape deck. I broke out of an esquiva de frente to bring in my helmet that i left hanging upside-down on my bike already filling up with water. The rest of class i pondered the fact that I’ll be riding home in the rain for the first time in my life. After class, the rain intensity had not tapered, so i threw my caution to the wind, my right leg over the saddle and had parting words with my instructor. “God willing nothing should happen, but if it does, please call me”, he said. With a look of confidence and chivalry i rode off into the storm, grinning from ear to ear. The experience was great. I started off quite conservatively under the speed limit. But as i realised that i was getting wet either way, i picked up pace…. but still decided to avoid the beltline freeway. So i rode right down Highway 1 all the way through the capital city towards home. The feeling of water seeping into my boots and down the crack of my ass was interesting, but admitedly not very comfortable. By the time i reached a certain stoplight downtown my feet were swimming in their own private puddle held in by my leather boots, my denim jeans were completely water weighted and saturated to the core. At home, i pealed off my clothes piece by piece leaving a puddle of water on the bathroom floor. I’ve always thought of Autumn in hurricane alley as my favorite time of the year, with all of the changing colors, warm days and cool nightly breeze, and of course the spontaneous shower (read, hurricane-induced knock-down-drag-out ) to stir the soil.

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