Shabbir's Diary

..and I ate every, single, last bite.

Watching: Discovery's "World Poker Tour" off the Tivo

Last night I dropped by Tono Sushi with an out of town guest. Sitting at the bar with Alan, we were looking forward to head chef Hiro's creativity. In that photo, Hiro's the guy on the far left. (It's not unusual to see Hiro run back to the kitchen and back to the bar. He's a man in motion.)

Since introducing me to sushi in St. Louis years ago, Alan has since become a vegetarian. We hit several places around town where I know the chefs and challenged the chefs to make us something interesting. Hiro did not fail to please, using shisito and other hard-to-find Japanese vegetables to provide us an entirely unique and beautiful combination.

However Hiro's big surprise is his dessert. The most creative sushi chefs I've met have other culinary talents that over time, get integrated into their cuisine. With Hiro it's desserts. He makes a fluffy, perfectly moist and light green tea cake. But this night had a new treat: green tea creme brulee.

The dessert is amazing, and obviously, Hiro can only make a small handful every night. After our vegetarian feast, Alan and I ordered the cake and the creme brulee. The patron next to us, near forty, balding, and who had boisterously tried to bully us into ordering "fresh wasabi", asked what we were eating, and then before he had finished eating his main course, said, "I want one of those".

Hiro: I'm sorry sir, but that was the last one.

Patron: I want that!

Hiro: I'm sorry, there aren't any more.

Patron (to the waittress in full tantrum mode): I want that!

Waittress: I'm sorry, no more.

Patron: I want it!

Hiro: Perhaps you can come back tomorrow.

Until the tantrum, I was going to offer him some of mine. After the tantrum, I started repeatedly and loudly complimenting Hiro for how good the creme brulee was. The creme brulee was good and you should go try it (yes it's that good) but torturing this guy was an extra-special treat.

I'm not a mean person; I resisted the urge to lick the dish.

Now this won't hurt a bit...

I hate to say it, but my dentist is a pretty good guy. I don't mind going to see him.

Well, let me rephrase that. I don't mind having my dentist take an ice pick to my teeth every six months because I believe it's less painful than periodontal surgery, or the grief that would come with having all my teeth fall out before I'm 50 years old.

My dentist is a decent guy too. He likes blackjack, golf, and his bachelerdom. How could you not like a guy like that?

The most perplexing thing at the dentist is this new ultrasound cleaner. Explain to me how an industry that has a reputation for inflicting pain thinks it would be innovative to have a device that sends ultrasonic waves into your jaw (and therefore your skull)? Every time my dentist waves that device at me I cringe, because it's like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Years from now, I'm certain we'll discover that dentists coincidentally make for great torturers. Mine won't be there, though, he'll be at the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas ogling girls and doubling down.

Inhale...1...2...3... And hold.

I spend a lot of time on airplanes nowadays.

I caught the commuter flight from Logan to National last night. I asked for and got the window seat, which is the best thing in the world.

I never understand people who aren't drawn to that view. Astronauts go to school and train for years of their life just to get that view. Pilots spend lifetimes and life fortunes just to be able to get that view on demand. I'm forking over a measly one hour and $200, you bet I'm going to have my eyes glued to the window.

I noticed the lower half of the plane was really cold. My legs and feet were well-chilled by the time we arrived. It got me thinking about the Payne Stewart air tragedy in 1999, when his Learjet lost cabin pressure somewhere above 35,000 feet and mysteriously the autopilot was engaged while everyone lost consciousness and froze to death for the next four hours while the plane ran out of fuel. Eventually the engine died and it crashed while military jets and the nation watched, helpless.

As I sit there with my stupendous view, I wonder, should I have driven my motorcycle? What are the odds of dying in the jet versus on the road on my Harley? Or just driving a rental car, hurricanes notwithstanding? And if the plane lost pressure, would it matter? Would I have time to react?

Common sense tells you not to pull the numbers on the car versus the plane. The car, and by comparison, the motorcycle, is statistically far more dangerous than the plane without any appropriate corresponding benefit, especially during the rainy season.

Which means I'm on the safest method of getting home. But once again, would I suffer? Is there anything I can do? For the answer to this, I consulted the FAA accident report on the Stewart crash, archived at Airsafe.Com

Although maudlin, it's reassuring that within 8 seconds, you start to lose performance ability, and within 1-2 minutes you are entirely capacitated.

At least I won't suffer.

Isabelle

Listening to: "P.I.M.P.", by 50 Cent, outrunning Hurricane Isabel in a rental car on I-95 North

So the regional governments went into disaster mode and shut down Washington DC on Thursday. The US Navy put the entire fleet out to sea. (Wait, is that a good idea in this era of heightened security?)

Even my colleagues who live just a mile or two away from our downtown office in the District started using the hurricane as an excuse to leave early. Once everyone was gone, it became difficult to get anything done, so I started looking for a flight to Boston.

The airports, of course, were cancelling flights, so Brian and I rented a car and tried to outdrive the hurricane. You figure Isabelle travels about 10-12mph on land, and we drive at least 70mph even through rain, so even with a head start we'd have it beat by Philly.

I can't complain. I get to see Sarah a day early, spend a day in our Boston office, and my housesitter gets the whole house for an extra day.

Lost in Translation

Listening To: Airport announcers warn people about parking in the "Red Zone", in transit between Boston and DC

If you haven't had a chance to see "Lost in Translation" by Sofia Coppola (starring Bill Murray) put it on your list. The story of two Americans who find themselves untethered in a foreign country, it should be viewed as one of Bill Murray's most successful dramatic roles.

That's not to say Murray's not funny, but he's not....Bill Murray. The depth of his character's darkness comes through beautifully, and when he's funny it's a sort of ironic, black sort of funny, not the whimsical "Stripes" sort of funny. Not since the Razor's Edge (1984) has he been given a role with such a dark soul.

Watching him on screen, I had the "Walter Matthau experience", where I saw the young Bill Murray in my head, and younger viewers next to me saw "this old guy", named Bill Murray. I suppose that's a sign of your age.

The father of the Hydrogen Bomb

September 11th.

Oh yeah, everyone made a big deal out of it, but I frankly don't see the
point. Something far more important should be commemorated this week (and
never again): the death of Dr. Edward Teller.
Teller is credited as the father of the Hydrogen Bomb, but frankly, he
should be thought of as one of the fathers of the Nuclear Arms Race.

After Robert J. Oppenheimer and his brain trust successfully created the
atomic bomb, they were wracked with guilt. Although they had ended the
war, they experienced a first for scientists: the true guilt that they had
created something that could terminate the human race. While such moral
dilemnas existed for scientists before Oppenheimer, it was the Manhatten
project that made the debate real, instead of theoretical.

Once the Soviet Union had acquired their own atomic bomb, Oppenheimer
argued vociferously that the only moral course of action was to
immediately negotiate a treaty with the Soviets to end atomic bomb
development.

Dr. Teller was not bothered by these reservations. He used his
connections with the Pentagon and the President to help stoke the fears
that fed the nuclear arms race. The bomb was built, and the nuclear arms
race began.

A final nail in the coffin, Teller eventually testified against
Oppenheimer in a witch-hunt that revoked his security clearance for
failure to support America's nuclear program and because of his refusal to
renounce his Communist friends. The witch-hunt was not reserved to
Oppenheimer, and US Senators were known to frequently ask scientists,

"Have you as a citizen the right to interpose your political judgments on the matter and thereby frustrate the contribution that you as a citizen, particularly equipped by Almighty God and the great genius that you have, have you the moral right, I wonder, to withhold?"

One of Oppenheimer's colleagues, Hans Bethe, answered,

"This, after all, is a free country... a country which prides itself on giving the right to the individual to decide his own actions. .. [The hydrogen bomb] will not do us any good and it will not win the war for us, nor the lack of it will not lose the war for us. If America is truly a free country, then it shouldn't be treason."

Bethe, a fallible human to the end, relented and worked on the hydrogen
bomb and subsequently condemned himself for this weakness, both in public and in private. As recently as 1995, he urged scientists to take a Hippocratic oath with the plea,

"I call on all scientists in all countries to cease and desist from work creating, developing, improving and manufacturing further nuclear weapons - and, for that matter, other weapons of potential mass destruction such as chemical and biological weapons."

More guns in the District

Sen. Orrin Hatch is pushing legislation to allow gun possession in the District. This isn't something DC residents like myself can ignore since Congress can make (or veto) District laws without consulting us.

But why hasn't this idea failed the common sense test? We've just gotten the city cleaned up, and the city economy back on track, and he thinks more guns will help to what, enhance our safety?

I'll make this offer publicly (as if he reads my blog) to the Senator and his staff. On the day he gets the rules changed to allow the public to carry guns throughout the Capitol, is the day I'll dedicate a year of my time to getting the laws in DC changed to allow handguns.

I won't be holding my breath.

Burning Man photos

Listening to: Black Eyed Peas, "Elephunk"

Here's a pointer to the photos I took this year at Burning Man. I'm assembling an index now, so if you find random clicking inefficient, just check back in a few days and I'll have it annotated.