Hello all. I am humbled to accept the distinction of being Newley.com’s first ever guest blogger. Newley, I hope I make you proud. You’ve been damn hard at it of late with numerous insightful, balanced and downright intellectually stimulating posts. That said, and in the interest of maintaining that very same high level of discourse, I present the following:
“Is love a tender thing? It�s too rough, too rude, too rowdy, and it pricks like a thorn”
S’gonna be an interesting week people.
Nick M.
Jill and I are heading down to the resort town of Vilcabamba on Saturday; we’ll be there until we leave Ecuador via Guayaquil on Wednesday (see below for more details re: where I’ll be over the holidays).
Since I’ll be away from the Web for the next week, one of my good friends, Nick M., has graciously agreed to to assume the mantle of…drum roll please…
First Ever Newley.com Guest Weblogger.
Nick, who I know from my New York book publishing days, has interesting opinions on a wide variety of subjects. And while he knows a lot about media, politics, sports, music, and other issues of profound importance, I’ve given him free reign to write about whatever in the hell he wants. He can even post haikus, should the spirt move him. (God help us.)
Look for him to make his debut later today or tomorrow.
A quick note regarding my coordinates for the coming weeks:
Classes end today, and I’ll be here in Ecuador until next Wednesday, the 17th, when I head back to SC (via Atlanta). I’ll spend Christmas in South Carolina, and then I’ll be in Vermont with friends over new year’s. After that, I hope to spend a few days in D.C.–dates are still tentative. More info soon.
Looking further ahead, I’m excited to say I’m exploring English teaching opportunities in another part of the world: Asia. Logistics are still being coordinated; stay tuned for more details. I shall miss Ecuador dearly. But, as they say, variety is the spice of life.
Newley.com political correspondent Jack W. sends along this interesting (if depressing) link: “Campaign 2004: Looking for Skeletons.”
So my favorite baseball team, the Atlanta Braves, has decided to jettison my favorite pitcher, Greg Maddux.
General manager John Schuerholz says Maddux, at age 37, is asking for too much money. Schuerholz also decided to let lifetime Brave Javy Lopez go.
Here’s a radical idea for you, Johnny boy: instead of getting rid of the fan favorites, how about firing your underperforming, wife-beating manager, Bobby Cox? Just a thought.
More on that–and details regarding a recent prison break in Quito–are in my most recent weekly Ecuador news round-up over at Southern Exposure.
…can be found in the “JAPAN SAQ (SELDOM ASKED QUESTIONS).”
Since the age of seven, I’ve suffered from asthma. Serious asthma. At one point, during high school, I was hospitalized when an attack wouldn’t abate. Another time, when I was about sixteen, I was continuously ingesting such copious amounts of oral asthma drugs that a doctor ordered a blood test to determine how it was possible that I was even metabolizing such vast quantities. Nevertheless, I was able to play soccer throughout high school and college (okay, yes, I was a goalkeeper), but asthma remained, well, a pain in the ass.
Until about two months ago, I’d never once exercised without having to use an inhaler beforehand. But now, quite mysteriously and miraculously, my asthma seems to have–I’m crossing my fingers here so I don’t jinx myself–disappeared.
A couple months ago, when we were hiking around the islands of Lake Titicaca, I noticed that I was exerting myself but not suffering from any breathing difficulties. So I decided to stop using my two inhalers, one of which is for preventative measures and one of which is for relief from wheezing. And, I’m happy to report, I don’t seem to need them anymore. (A side note: the fact that I don’t have medical insurance now and thus have to pay 40 and 80 smackers, respectively, for said inhalers was no doubt a factor in my decision-making process.)
My Ecuadorian friend says living and running at altitude (the physiological aspects of which I commented on back on February 20th) is the reason that my asthma isn’t bothering me anymore. I tend to think that I may have finally “outgrown” the condition.
Another possibility is that I’m not subjected to the same allergens here in Ecuador that I am at home; thus, not only is the “cross-sectional area of my air passages” bigger, but there’s less stuff in the air to irratate them.
Whatever the reason, I’m delighted to be symptom-free (if only for the time being). I’ve run several times and I’ve even done some rather intense sprinting (yes, sprinting). So far, so good. But I’m still crossing my fingers…
Some blogs to keep an eye on: Miguel Octavio, a fellow Southern Exposure blogger, is covering the latest attempt to recall Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. My friend Wendy H. has launched a new blog about the music industry. And LatinoPundit, which I recently discovered, is an interesting Weblog dealing with Latin American affairs. Read and enjoy.
Radley Balko, a libertarian and an excellent writer, takes Dubya to task for paying lip service to free trade. Read and enjoy.
In related news, the White House has decided to repeal controversial steel taffifs in order to avoid a trade war.
And, finally, if you’re looking for an entertaining primer on the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (and who isn’t?), check out what Marcelo Rinesi, a fellow Southern Exposure blogger, has to say. His “Condensed Transcript Of The Miami FTAA Talks” (scroll down to November 21st) is spot-on.