Newley Purnell

—Wendy H., God bless her, sends word that “Trekkies 2” is now available on DVD. (The follow-up to the hilarious “Trekkies,” this flick never came out in theaters. For shame.)

— Would you believe that a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet command is named…drumroll please…

Lt. Cmdr. Flex Plexico.

Believe it. Seriously.

With a name like that, this guy’s missed his true calling as either a comic book superhero or a gay porn star. (I know, I know–when it comes to the name department, those who live in glass houses…)

–My buddy Chris Holloway, a helluva chef, recently launched his own catering business. If you’re in the Washington, DC area and your office needs a lunch or breakfast, check out his Web site: Three Sqaures Catering.

I’m generally skeptical of personal productivity systems. I think they’re mostly much ado about nothing–how hard is it, really, to simply think about what you want from life and then set about accomplishing it? (Okay, so maybe it’s not that easy.)

Out of curiosity, I read Stephen Covey’s hugely popular “Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People.” I found it too long on nebulous touchy-feely stuff (like “personal mission statements” and the like) and short on practical advice.

But then, a few months back, I came across a copy of David Allen’s “Ready for Anything,” a follow-up to his first book, “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.”

I really like Allen’s straightforward approach: he advocates two main concepts. The first is to write down all of your committments–everything from finishing that report at work to cleaning out the garage–and create a written or electronic system for managing these to-do lists. Second, Allen advises doing “weekly reviews” of your various projects and, less frequently, reviewing your longer-term goals. Makes sense to me.

The most recent Atlantic Monthly has a great profile on Allen and his approach, though the article’s regrettably not online. Here’s Allen’s Web site and message board, where his many enthusiasts share pearls of wisdom.

It’s not as far-fetched as one might imagine. And let’s just say this: yours truly will have a front-row seat for the main event, baby!

I’m happy to report that, at long last, I’m making some progress in learning Chinese. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been surprised at how difficult the language is to pick up. But now, after perhaps 10 hours in the classroom learning the tones, Jill and I have moved on to actually speaking words and phrases (!!). Here’re a few.

This should give you a sense of 1) how hard the words are to pronounce, and 2) how the pinyin (the romanization of the Chinese words) isn’t always pronounced the way it’s written. Note that I’m unable to reproduce, here, the tone marks that accompany these words. Each word has one or two or more marks that resemble accent marks; they indicate the lilt with which the words are said.

teacher: laoshi
hello: nihao (“nee-how”
you (sing.): ni (“nee”)
you (pl.): nimen
I/me: wo (“whoa”)
we/us: women (“whoa-men”)
child/children: haizi (“hi-zi”)
things/possessions: dongxi
here: zheli (“jay-li”)
I’m sorry: duibuqi (“dwee-bu-chee”)
beer: pijiu (“pee-joe”)
how much does it cost?: duoshaoqian (“dwo-shao-chee-an”)
notebook: bijiben (“bee-gee-bun”)
pen: yuanzibi (“you-an-zi-bee”)
bathroom: xishoujian (“zee-sho-chee-an”)
1: yi (“yee”)
2: er
3: san
4: si (“s”)
5: wu (“woo”)
6: liu (“lio”
7: qi (“chee”)
8: ba
9: jiu (“jio”)
10: shi (“sh”)

Quick note: we’re back from Taipei. A good time was had by all.

My soccer team performed well, making it to the semi-finals, where we were beaten by an excellent squad that went on to win the championship (and which contained a member of the Taiwan national soccer team).

The logistics of the trip are worth noting: we took a 4 a.m. bus up to Taipei early Saturday. (It’s about a 5-hour journey.) Then, Sunday evening, when the tournament was over, we decided to hop on a flight home. We showed up at the aiport at 6:00 p.m., paid about US$60 each, and got on a 6:20 p.m. flight.

Before we departed, we were hanging out at the gate and someone handed me a cold oat soda. I cracked it open with zeal and thus, when we boarded, I marked a new milestone in my traveling career: first time I’ve ever walked onto a plane with an open Kirin lager.

We arrived in Kaohsiung a mere 45 minutes later. Flying is definitely the way to go.

BBC: “A Caledonian University student claims he has made an important breakthrough in how to pour ‘the perfect pint’ during Euro 2004.

David Stevenson, from Helensburgh, said his device is ‘fool-proof’ and enables football fans to watch games without worrying about pouring problems.”

I’ve added a bunch of Weblogs to the left-hand side of this page. Most of them are sites I’ve been enjoying for a while and am just now getting around to linking to. I’ve also added a more direct link to my travel photos page, which was previously a little harder to find.

Following my speculation that Ecuadorian president Lucio Gutierrez will soon be booted from office, and following my buddy Mike F.‘s thoughts that Lucio’s fine for now, here’s what my friend Jordan L. has to say.

Jordan’s an American who lived in Ecuador for three years; he and I were once roommates in Cuenca. He’s seen Ecuadorian presidents come and go, and I often say he knows more about that small Andean nation than any gringo I know. I asked him to weigh in on the matter, and here’s his response:

First off, I admire your courage. Talking about Ecuadorian politics is like pissing in the wind–and believe me when I say I�ve inadvertently urinated on myself more than a few times amidst gusty Andean gales. Never the less, I will try once more to plow the sea of public debate in response to your question: �Lucio–on his way out?�

If one thing is clear, it’s that no one has a clue as to who could take Lucio’s place. Frankly, nobody wants the job. Being president of Ecuador is akin to political suicide–and it’s systemic. After Bucaram was voted out in 1998 congress amended the
constitution and replaced Rosalia (VP) with Alarcon, then president of the congress. Alarcon promptly made several reforms that consolidated power in the executive branch and likewise made it extremely hard to remove a sitting president by legal means. The
reforms also gave the president more control over the budget at a time when state revenues were dwindling (read: neoliberalism). So any president has to do more with less and will surely get blamed for the outcome, as Lucio is finding out the hard way.

So there you have it, folks. Thank you, Jordan and Mike, for your incisive opinions on the topic. I haven’t been this proud of Newley.com since our global warming debate back in December.

Given my intense distaste for “Bowling for Columbine,” I’m interested to see what my reaction’ll be to Moore’s new film, “Farenheit 9/11.”

Chris Hitchens, a critic I admire, has seen the movie and says this:

To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of “dissenting” bravery.