A pilot slammed his small plane into a seven-story building that housed the local office of the Internal Revenue Service Thursday, apparently killing himself and one agency employee, in what federal officials described as a deliberate suicide attack amid a long-running tax dispute.

He left a note on his website which isn’t worth the time to read or repeating here. Needless to say, we all have feelings about paying taxes and politics, this just isn’t the right way to deal with that. Sadly, one IRS employee lost their life. Hopefully, his/her family will hold strong even after this senseless crime.

Over winter break, I decided that I needed to step up the cooking game. Considering that I eat 90% of my meals at home, a little effort could go a long way. Also, living in a part of London with almost immediate access to the Borough Market, an abundance of fresh ingredients are at my disposal.

For my first foray back into cooking, I decided to take inspiration from what has been my staple – pasta. A good meat sauce is my favorite addition to some properly cooked pasta and parmesan cheese. Additionally, a traditional ragu sauce requires several hours of cooking, legitimizing this as a real attempt at making something.

Two recipes, found online, guided this experiment. The first provided the outline for the ingredients and steps, the second provided some guidance on using fresh tomatoes instead of canned. All of the ingredients, aside from salt, pepper, olive oil, and wine were purchased from the Borough Market in Southwark, London.

Note: I make no claim to the authenticity of this recipe and the list of ingredients is largely inspired from the first recipe (linked to above).

400g x Ground Beef
100g x Streaky Unsmoked Bacon
24 x Vine Tomatoes
1 x Large Onion
3 x Garlic Cloves
3 x Bay Leaves
1 x Rosemary Stalks
Red Wine
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

The vegetables and herbs were purchased from Elsey and Bent and the meat was purchased from the Ginger Pig, both within the market.

1. Chop the tomatoes into smallish cubes (I list this first because it will take a while and you don’t want to leave everything else on the burner too long)
2. Turn a stove burner on medium heat and place a large pot on it (large enough to fit all of the ingredients)
3. Pour about two tablespoons of oil into the bottom of the pot (eye this up, enough to cook your onion, garlic, and bacon in)
4. Finely chop the onion, garlic, and bacon. Place these ingredients in the pot and cook for about 10 minutes. Avoid over-cooking the garlic.
5. Add the tomatoes, about a glass and a half of wine, the bay leaves, and the rosemary.
6. Cook for about 2.5 – 3 hours, stirring every half hour. Add a bit of oil if the sauce sticks to the pot. If the sauce seems quite thick about an hour in add a dash of wine, but don’t overdo it.
7. Add basil, salt, and pepper in the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Enjoy! Serves 6-8 people.

Two temples away from the end, I accidentally erased my saved game. All of the progress…gone. Not sure if I will play again. Definitely need some time away from that game now.

After class, on my way to the library I was scrolling through my iPod looking for a song to play when I completely missed a step in front of me. Usually, I don’t I try and avoid using this blog to try and write on deep life issues. That just is not my forte. I can’t help but think about how the lenses that we use to navigate through our lives help us see and prevent us from seeing other things at the same time. Without my glasses, I would have an interesting time getting around London. But with them, my gaze focused on one object, I missed out on something else going on.

And hitting that step hurt.

They accepted me. Now I have some thinking to do.”

I wrote this post in February of 2009, almost a year ago. It never got published though.

The decision to go to LSE was tough and I’m not entirely sure path this decision is leading me down. I guess we shall see.

I decided to publish this post now because of the novelty and insight from hindsight. The choice I made is now obvious and it is interesting how it dominoes into other challenges and new choices.

Wow…It has been a while.  I’m not sure why the blogging stopped.  But it did and it’s time to move on.  I have about a week left of my break between Michaelmas and Lent Term.  A lot has gone on over break alone, to briefly recap: Dan’s Visit, Rome, Zurich, Monica’s Visit, and Barcelona.  Coming up this week (as of the original writing, these trips have since passed) is Brussels, Tallinn, and Helsinki.  The following week includes the first week of Lent Term (LT) classes and a trip to Amsterdam.  Perhaps I planned too much for these two months.

Time has gone by fast though and I certainly feel the finite nature of the time that I have in London.  A couple of months down and overall, I’m not entirely sure what to think.  Surely, one is supposed to be impressed by a city with the reputation and history of London.  I definitely don’t want to give the impression that I am unimpressed or that I am unsatisfied with living in London.  Neither of those would be true, nor do I anticipate will become the case over this next year.  As my travels may indicate, I am certainly enjoying the adventure of living abroad, although there are many things and people that I miss from home.

While Dan was visiting, we were talking about skiing.  It has been a sort of fantasy of mine for a while to live in a ski town (yes, I love the sport that much).  I mentioned that if I could live anywhere, I think that it would be Whistler, BC.  He replied succinctly, “you can live anywhere.”  For a 20-something, the question of where you will or want to make your home is a fairly significant question.

This question is complicated by a myriad of issues including family, friends, career, citizenship, and language to name a few.

I plan on writing some more about where I have travelled and what it seems like each place revealed about itself and what the future may hold for me.

With all of this frolicking through Europe complete, I can’t more strongly recommend the website TripIt. You can log in using your Google Account, which makes life easier, one less login to remember. It makes travelling so much easier by creating itineraries for you based on booking confirmation emails. So I just forward an email from, let’s say Delta or Holiday Inn to plans@tripit.com and it automatically puts my flight times in, check in time at the hotel, and directions to the hotel along with maps of the surrounding area from Google Maps. Moreover, it has links to check flight status and check in for the flight right on the site.

It also acts as a great log for your trips. The last feature I’ll mention is the ability to easily give other travellers access and the ability to edit the trip.

Okay, another post down…I think I could get used to doing this again.

I’ll be honest…I have too much stuff. In particular, I have too many items of clothing which are easy to fold up and hide away in a drawer.

Sometimes it is hard to get rid of things that you just don’t need. More specifically, it is hard to make the condemning act of getting rid of it. There are plenty of things that I have set aside as Maybe Get Rid Ofs. Not enough things that are actually being gotten rid of.

It is really strange making a move back home, but also in anticipation of a move overseas.

First off…song is Dat New New by Kid Cudi (Viking Remix). Second off…never listen to the unremixed version of this song. Third off…listen to more Kid Cudi.

I whole-heartedly agree that homework is not 100% efficient, even today I found myself refreshing my inbox repeatedly, substantially slowing down my reading. It may be a long night.

(Also, I think your site is down.)

I have been less of news-whore since this fall’s campaign, so I’ve missed a few opportunities to post articles that have been of interest to me. Plus, I’m not sure what people like more: my political grand-standing or just daily musings? Let me know.

For today, I came up with this title. “Keeping Busy”. In some respects, I thought this title laughable. What does it really mean to be busy? I can say from personal experience that my perception of business inflates how busy I actually am. This is true for everyone. The things that matter most to us are those that most directly affect us. Obviously, our schedule and daily routine is one of the main things affecting each of us everyday.

I talked to Dan yesterday. He was providing me even more help with my recent server project. Earlier in the day, he couldn’t text me because he was at work. I felt busy doing homework, but my day was constrained only by myself and a late-night practice. Dan was stuck at work, constrained by losing his job if he chose to just walk out. I feel busy everyday at school, as the work piles up and midterms get closer, but again that is constrained by time and the work I put in before that day.

At times, it is easy to feel infinitely busy, in other words so busy you cannot get everything done. Often this is true, there are only so many hours in a day. But how often is this case only because of choices we have made earlier? Probably always.

There is another constraint though, besides the ones driving you toward 100% productivity. Any human being that I know needs to relax, we can’t be busy all the time. Ironically, I find myself stressed out all too often trying to figure out how I’m going to relax. Sometimes…you can plan too much.

I chose the title keeping busy to reflect the effort that goes into staying on task and the lack of effort which can create business. To put it another way, both choices are keeping me busy.

While it is easy to exaggerate beyond anything reasonable. We also have to consider that I spend some time playing video games, watching movies, and surfing the web. Evidently, there is free time to be had. My goal for this Spring is to focus some of that free time into working out more. Past winters, I have replaced running, swimming, biking, and playing tennis with lifting. Too cold to be outside, so go to the gym. This winter, let’s just say I did not go to the gym as much as I would have liked. So I need to get back into shape. I firmly believe that being back in Minneapolis will foster that activity. It is one of the best places to run, bike, and just be outside.

Everyone…you’ve had fair warning. Pump up your bike tires, get out your tennis rackets, and get ready for summer (it’s coming…I swear!).