August 1, 2005

Our move to Cali has hit a bit of a road block, leaving us hanging out in the 'Ville a few extra days while Jennifer's car gets fixed. The electronically controlled rack and pinion(?) steering went bad on the Prius. Don't even ask how much the repair is ! Of course, a Prius MUST be repaired by a certified Prius technician and the parts that were ordered today have to come in from Cincinnati and will arrive tomorrow morning. So we're leaving on Wednesday instead of today. I just figure that it's a good thing that it happened here and we're able to hang out with friends and family while it gets fixed. Otherwise we might be stranded in the middle of Kansas or the Nevada desert.

Another pain in the ass is that the screen on my phone is broken and i can't get to my contacts list to call anyone. When NEXTEL had no available phones to swap out I had them print a list of my contacts. That lasted about a day, then I lost it. So I guess I'll get another one. They're supposed to get me a phone today, we'll see. So now I guess we'll take advantage of the time we have here to visit more and relax a bit before we hit the trail again.

July 21, 2005

Note: This is a second draft of this story. I made the original so graphic that it zapped all the humor and frankly grossed the hell outta me. If you want all the details give me a call.

Tuesday, Jen got a rental car from a Toyota dealership while they were working on her car. She drove the car to work, and while at work became ill, having a nauseus stomach. She decided to leave work and head home, planning to pick up her car the following morning from the dealership. On the way home she began feeling worse, and by the time she reached her exit her stomach was churning violently. Anyway....SHE PUKED ALL OVER HER RENTAL CAR!

Yeah, no shit. So, she cleans up what she can of the rental car, goes inside, presumably washes up, and goes to bed.

When I talked to her yesterday afternoon she said that when she opened up the car in the morning it "stunk". I'm gonna consider that a grosse understatement due to the fact that it's July, and it's been like 100 degrees here. Yeah, I know you all can imagine what the heat did to enhance the funk. She also said that there was no real visible evidence unless you moved the seat back or looked beside the console. She dropped the rental car off in some random, inconpsicuous spot in the dealersip lot and hasn't received a nasty phone call yet. I just feel sorry for the poor S.O.B. that gets to clean that car.

Strangely ironic political cartoon above by daryl cagle.

July 20, 2005

Nine days until Jen and I leave Virginia and head west to towards the rest of our lives. It’s crunch time for all the details to fall into place. Utilities scheduled for activation? Check. Trailer reserved? Mail forwarded (and held)? Check. Internet, telephone, and cable carriers researched? Umm… Camping gear packed (for trip out there)? Well… It’ll get done. Oh yeah, and I still have to build a retaining wall at my grandmother’s place. Good thing the heat index is 105 º.

Good news is, I got some cool walkie-talkies for the trip! Yeah, yeah, cell phone, right? Well check out NEXTEL coverage in Kansas, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. Get it? Besides, they’re orange!

Can anyone tell me how the hell this kind of move happened without the internet? We’re literally moving across the country to a city that we’ve never been to, and thanks to the internet been able to remotley:

• research and lease an apartment
• connect utilities,
• register for school,
• take the California DMV practice test (..oohh),
• map out our route and research camping spots,
• sell half our shit (I, to people 200 miles away),
• purchase walkie-talkies,
• have our mail forwarded to California beginning on our leave date, held in Sacramento until our arrival date and delivered to us two days later. I JUST realized how much faith I’m putting into the USPS, damn.

All of this in a matter of weeks. Moving must’ve taken YEARS to pull off back in the 70’s!

July 16, 2005

My friend Matt has been working for the Peace Corps in Vanuatu, located in the South Pacific (they filmed Survivor there). Over the past few years he's sent many great emails describing his adventures. Matt's time with the Peace Corps is nearing an end and I felt it would be good, for the sake of reflection, to go back through these emails, relive the adventures, and share them with others. With his permission I'm posting these emails on the Mugblog. It's my hope that you, the reader, might get a laugh, learn something new, or get a better appreciation for what an organization like the Peace Corps is all about and how commited and attached the volunteers become to the communities to which they're assigned. All photos are taken by the man himself.

Wednesday, February 04, 2004 6:03 PM

Yes ladies and gentlemen, hell has frozen over. Well not
really, but pretty darn close. The Christian Womens Club
in my village (which of course is named after Christ) has
recently been renamed to the MattDry Women's Club (Drury's
too hard to say). Take that Jesus! Just kidding. It all
came about with the donation of a couple of sewing machines
and some supplies. If I new that's all it took, I would
have done it years ago. Of course many of the women have
goiters and facial hair, but I'm looking into doing some
recruiting. I'm looking into printing t-shirts as well.

So I'm back in Port Vila for a friends wedding and to have
a few meetings. It's strange to be back so soon, it seems
like my last month on the rock hardly even happened. My
life on Ambae is finally improving, I think the major
contributing factor is good health. But I've also finally
been more or less accepted in the community. I've been
adopted by a family and given a custom name - Vuti Natinaho
which means when you're walking up the hill in the morning
and blocking you're face from the bright sun. People are
also bringing me food now and then. Also after 6 months of
carrying a 20 liter water jug over 1km twice a week, the
rains have hit and I have water in my well. I had a bit of
a devil infestation at my house for awhile, but Chief
Melkio Toko planted a custom leaf in the corners of my yard
and it's been quiet at night ever since.

Take care and I hope you're all freezing cold. I could actually go
for a couple a cold days right now. -- Vuti

July 15, 2005

I can only hope that if I get arrested and then become famous, or get arrested while famous, that the details will be "muddled".

Name: Bill Gates (aka Billy Badass)

Arrested: December 13, 1977

Location: Albequerque, New Mexico

Charge: Traffic Violation (allegedly speeding, or running a stop sign, or both, allegedly with no license in his Porsche.) details muddled.

Name: Larry King (aka Lawrence Harvey Zieger)

Arrested: December 20, 1971

Location: Miami, Florida

Charge: Grand Larceny (bad check), pleaded no contest, though the details are also muddled

A friend of mine loved his mobile phone. It was one of the old school Motorola StarTAC flip phones. He's relied on these phones for years. His loyalty to the StarTAC was so strong that when he came across a box of several of them for sale on Ebay, he couldn't resist. He logically figured that since they didn't make them anymore he would stock up and always have one as a replacement. Imagine his surprise when he recently attempted to activate one of his replacement StarTACs and was denied. The Verizon associate told him that they wouldn't be able to activate the phone because a government mandate required that all newly activated phones be GPS enabled. Oh really!? Sure, I understand the practical uses of GPS (driving directions, fleet tracking, etc.) as well as the 911 implications, but it seems to me that GPS capability should be an option, not a requirement. So now everyone who has a cell phone has an automatic tracking device. Sure, the feds, the man, and even your momma could always track a cell position by the towers in the area through which a phone is transmitting (right?), but could they pinpoint the latitude and longitude of your position in real time? Like I said, I'm not paranoid, hell, I have NEXTEL and my phone is GPS enabled, but now your telling me that I don't have the option of owning a cell phone that's not a tracking device, BULLSHIT I say! BULL...SHIT.

July 13, 2005

So, I'm sure that some of you didn't have a clue that Jen and I are movin' to California in search of gold. But don't worry, if the gold thing doesn't "pan" out (get it?) we have another plan. Here's how it all went down, for those that are interested.

• We had a plan to move to Blacksburg, VA where I would attend Virginia Tech to continue my pursuit of a degree in Horticulture. Jen was planning to also attend VT and take classes working towards a then undetermined (yet she might argue otherwise) second bachelors degree in the health field. We were able to find a nice house just two blocks off campus and a 5 minute walk to the "hot spots" on the bar and restaurant strip. However, I wasn't accepted as one of the 700 Fall transfers out of 2700 applicants. Whatever.
• Soon after, Jen and I took a trip to New Mexico to watch her brother play New Mexico State University baseball for his senior weekend three game series against University of Arkansas at Little Rock. This trip definitely sparked the idea that there was no reason that we should limit ourselves to the East Coast or other familiar territories when searching for a place where we could be together and actively pursue our scholastic goals.
• Research began for a school that would serve both or needs. Jen found an assortment of the "perfect" schools for her, and I came up with equally acceptable schools for me. Problem was, we didn't have any matches. Schools for her had us heading to destinations like Seattle, Phoenix and Denver while most of my schools were, well, on the east coast.
• Jen finds UC Davis, in Davis, California. It's located 15 miles west of Sacramento, is THE traditional agriculture school in the University of California (UCLA, UCSB, etc.) system, and just happens to be under a two hour drive to both San Fransisco and Lake Tahoe. Oh, it's also right near, or maybe in, the Napa Valley. If wine does anything for ya. Needless to say, after a LOT more research into the area, Sacramento and Davis in particular, we decided we would go ahead and plan to head out west.
• Ever since that decision was made, maybe 6 weeks ago, maybe a bit longer, it's been non-stop preparation for the trip. Applying for school and registering for classes and all other educational logistics, finding shelter, and arranging transport of ourselves and our shit. Just last weekend we liquidated all kinds of stuff and brought in over a grand (that'll at least pay for petro in my truck to get out there). We have two weeks to go and preparation continues.
• Departure date is set for July 29th from my place in Waynesboro, VA. We'll head to the 'Ville for the weekend then take a 5 day road trip through Kansas City , Denver, Salt Lake City, Carson City, and then on to Sacramento where hopefully the apartment we secured last week will be ready for us to move in. Fun stuff.

Stay tuned for more on the move:

Why Sacramento first and not straight to Davis?

Isn't it expensive out there?

Where will you guys work?

Will you ever come back?

July 12, 2005

July 11, 2005

My friend Matt has been working for the Peace Corps in Vanuatu, located in the South Pacific (they filmed Survivor there). Over the past few years he's sent many great emails describing his adventures. Matt's time with the Peace Corps is nearing an end and I felt it would be good, for the sake of reflection, to go back through these emails, relive the adventures, and share them with others. With his permission I'm posting these emails on the Mugblog. It's my hope that you, the reader, might get a laugh, learn something new, or get a better appreciation for what an organization like the Peace Corps is all about and how commited and attached the volunteers become to the communities to which they're assigned. All photos are taken by the man himself.

Monday, January 17, 2005 5:42 PM

Halo Frens,
Just got back from 3 weeks on the south
island of NZ and a few days in Brisbane. It was pretty
good, I went fishing, backpacking, sea kayaking, and
exploring. It was pretty bad weather, but we had some nice
days in the backcountry. Definitely got a little annoyed
with lots of mundane, uninteresting people bumbling before
a beautiful backdrop. It seems the path there is too safe
and well worn. Anyway, New Zealand is still an awesome
place and there’s still lots more I want to do there that I
didn’t have time to do. While we were there we bought this
piece of shit car that kept breaking down, I got some
friends down there trying to sell it right now, I hope they
succeed, or at least send me photos of it on fire going
over the edge of a cliff. Brisbane was nice too, though it
seemed like a Hollywood movie set, too clean and non-
descript.
So lots of crazy stuff’s been happening in Vanuatu
before and after my little holiday, I’m getting worn out,
but amused. This Filipino girl I’m friends with just
proposed marriage, she’s pretty cute, but I had to turn her
down. It was strictly for immigration purposes, but I
spoke with a lawyer-friend who said it wouldn’t really help
her situation unless I was willing to put in a few years
work. Last month I was going down a steep “road” on the
volcano when the brakes in the truck when out, we crashed
into a tree right before we went off a step embankment. A
few guys ended up in the hospital, but I was all right.
The Chief of my village stole a pineapple from this woman
who in turn worked custom magic on him and his scrotum
swole up like a balloon. He had to get the leaf back that
she used to cast the spell before his cacahuates went back
to normal. There was also this huge fight during one of my
workshops, but when guys started swinging sticks I got
outta there (and immediately got in that car wreck).
Anyway, the stories go on and on; but seem less strange as
time goes by.
Work’s been good, my solar powered battery charging
system has finally arrived and will be installed next
month. When the project opens I think the German
Ambassador is coming (since they’re the ones that ended up
giving me funding). Got lots of taro growing for export
and I’m completely restructuring the way farmers market
their cocoa and I think we may even start selling to
Starbucks. The Peace Corps has started flying me to lots
of different islands to teach workshops and do site visits
for other volunteers. I’m actually going to Ambrym on Sat.
for a course, but when it’s finished, I should have time to
visit 2 out of their 3 volcanoes before going back to
Ambae. Also, I’m currently exploring US markets for a new
kava juice we’re making for export, it tastes like tropical
fruit juice, but has all the kick of Vanuatu kava,
(anything you find called kava in the US is a joke). I’ll
be pitching to Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and probably some
smaller ones like Rainbow Blossom, Earth Fare, etc. But if
any of you have any other ideas or contacts, let me know.
There’s a company talking about flying me to the US in
March or April to follow up on this, small chance, but
still a chance.
I was pretty much 100% gonna stay a third year here, but on
Espirito Santo, but I’m starting to have some doubts. I
kinda miss living for myself, though I’m sure that will get
boring quickly enough. Also, my main goal is to buy a
piece of land with some friends, which should happen in
Western Carolina in the next 2 years, so money is an
unfortunate consideration. If I stayed I’d get trained as
a dive master for free, get free wine making equipment, and
do lots more traveling. But I’m just feeling a bit run
down. Although I’ve had a beautiful couple days back in
Vanuatu, quite glad to be back actually, I’ve been sea
kayaking everyday and hanging at some beautiful beaches and
drinking lots of kava. I’ve also vowed not to work so hard
and enjoy my time here a bit more, the last 6 months I’ve
been working too hard and neglecting my needs. I just bit
off more than I could chew and had to work my way through
it. I’m at the point in my service where I help maintain
and nurture projects, not start new ones.
Other news from Vanuatu, our Prime Minister slapped the
Prime Minister of China (and has since been dismissed), we
did get hit by another cyclone, but it only got a few
islands and wasn’t too strong, and satellite number 174
went down last week and Vanuatu had no telephone or
internet contact with the rest the world for a week. I’ve
been doing some work on my website and should
continue to do so till next week when I leave for the outer
islands. It would also be great to hear from y’all before
I go off a disappear for awhile again. Got to run, it’s
too nice a day to be behind a computer.

- Matt

Mugblog's back on the net thanks to DABU. Stick around, there's more to come.