Links to my other websites and blogs

Here's a link to my L.A. to Buenos Aires Motorcycle Trip wiki: www.la2ba.pbwiki.com

Here's a link to my school blog: www.jlmeyer.wordpress.com

Here are my kids in action on their drama projects. This is a working wiki, so the kids have access to and can contribute to this at anytime, but usually only when I tell them too: www.jlmeyer.pbwiki.com

Here's a link to a cool wiki I'm putting together for the school art history trip to Europe next year that Abigail and I are chaperoning: www.sisspainandfrance.pbwiki.com

Feel free to leave comments on anything that you like.

2008 Seoul International School Triathlon

So, I got wise this year and did only the bike section. It was a very short 15 km of mixed roads, including one km of very rough two track. My time, in the rain, was 32:20 seconds, so I was pretty happy with that, especially considering the bike is an all-mountain rig with street slicks on it.

My team, Team Trifecta, took second place. In the 300 meter swim-5km run-15km bike, we finished in 1:01 and change. Abigail was a course monitor as much of the road section was in traffic, so she waved a flag and cheered.

Here's one picture. More to come later:

MTB Race Pictures from the last few months...

Here a few pics of me racing Korea. I just started competing this year after riding for fun since high school. It's a good time, but it gives you a new respect for the pros. While they bust ass up hills, I sort of lumber. The downhills, on the other hand, are where my 200 pounds come in handy as i can really pick up some speed. My bike also tends to bail me out from time to time, so thanks to Specialized for designing a sweet ride.


OD Half-Marathon (60 km off-road)


Indy Fest, Phoenix Park Ski Resort, South Korea (18 km off=road)


A shot a lot of photos of the downhillers. This is my favorite.

Some of our wedding pictures...

Well, let's just say we have been very, very busy, and maybe a even lazier. Apologies for not updating more often, BUT we just got our pictures recently.

The wedding was great, but I'll let the photos do the talking. We're having a great time as a newly married couple, but it would be nice to be a little less busy.

Enjoy

Some of our wedding pictures...

Well, let's just say we have been very, very busy, and maybe a even lazier. Apologies for not updating more often, BUT we just got our pictures recently.

The wedding was great, but I'll let the photos do the talking. We're having a great time as a newly married couple, but it would be nice to be a little less busy.

Enjoy

Some of our wedding pictures...

Well, let's just say we have been very, very busy, and maybe a even lazier. Apologies for not updating more often, BUT we just got our pictures recently.

The wedding was great, but I'll let the photos do the talking. We're having a great time as a newly married couple, but it would be nice to be a little less busy.

Enjoy

Chiang Mai, Thailand over Spring Break

So, after we left Singapore and the Guiyesse family, we moved over to Chiang Mai, Thailand to meet up with our friend and local librarian, Chris Fazenbaker. We had several adventures planned for our time in this mountain city.

As we landed, all the warnings we had received about low visibility during the time of the year that we went became evident. All about the city a nasty haze lay. Apparently it was the time of the year when the rice fields were "plowed under" via burning. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as the week before we were there as rumor had it that visibility was less than a mile. We could at least make out the mountain silhouettes.

Chiang Mai is an interesting area as it offers world travellers a lot of chances to backpack in the mountains around he area, often apporaching the boarder of Burma, and providing opportunities to stay in villages occupied by the Thai hill tribes. As it was hot and the tour companies seem to be hit or miss, we opted out and stayed an inn that one seems only to find in Thailand: overgrown with tropical vegetation, a variety of old books, seemingly out-of-place antique furniture, a handful of middle-aged grumpy Thais, and small cabins surrounding the common eating area. It was really quaint and we liked the place.

In terms of activities, we had a few things in mind. We were scheduled to take a two-day photography class which involved a tour of the surrounding areas, we wanted to rent a scooter to explore a little more of the countryside, I wanted to take a Thai cooking class, and Abigail wanted to get a handful of massages. She tried to convince me to go along, but with the way that I behave when receiving a simple, street side foot massage, I decided to pass on the full body rubdown. Fifteen minutes on the feet is enough to make me practically hyperventilate; I can't imagine what a full-day scenario would be like.

Anyway, the photography class was realy cool and our teacher, Steve Kramer, helped us learn how to use Abigail's digital SLR more effectively and also a handful of post-porduction tips and tricks in Photoshp to make the images look more professional.

This is Steve, and he did not dress up for this picture; he looked like this both days.

Steve drove us around to a variety of cool places, including a village where representatives from several of the hill tribes live, a rice farm, and an elephant preserve. Here are a few of the pictures that we took and I edited:


A typical street scene in Chiang Mai where everything is quite colorful


At a temple in Chiang Mai


The bells (above) and a nice picture of a Buddha statue that Abigail shot


In the next entry, Ill include some shots of our visit to the elephant preserve and to the hill tribe village. Check back soon.

Spring Break in Chiang Mai and Singapore

Well, better late then never, right? It's been several weeks now since spring break has ended, but it feels a little longer than that. We had a great time seeing family in Singapore, new places, and having some pretty cool learning experiences.

Here are some recollections along with pictures:

The Friday that school ended, Abigail and I left for the airport to catch our flight to Singapore. Abigail's cousin, Mahalee, her husband, Benoit, and their new baby, Linnea, have recently moved to the Nanyang district because Benoit took a teaching position at Nanyang Technical University as a professor of engineering or some such discipline that involves tinkering around with things so that the work better. They have a nice, big flat in a very small but clean, fresh, and lively country. If you like a constant temperature of 85 degrees, humidity, and daily rainstorms during which the nearby sea seems to transported to the sky and into the neighborhoods, then Singapore might be your dream location. I happened to like the weather as it gave me a legitimate excuse to walk around in nothing but shorts. I also liked the rainstorms and the house lizard that gandered on by while I was using the john.

Here's the family:



Although they're all pretty cute by most standards, one of them stands out, so here's another one of Linnea:


We stayed in Singapore for only one night on our way out as we had plans to meet up with our friend Chris Fazenbaker in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a photography class. Needless to say, we had a nice first visit with Benoit and Mahalee and even hashed over the idea of possibly moving to Singapore some day. We shall see.

Next, we flew to Chiang Mai. More to come in the next entry.

But first, one more of Linnea!

We're getting married...

...in Koh Samui, Thailand on 24 July 2007. If you're in the neighborhood, swing by Big John's Seafood Restaurant and Bungalows. It'll be fun.

Hopefully we'll see you there.

Our upcoming spring break trip to...

...Singapore and Chiang Mai, Thailand.

We'll visit Abigail's cousin, Mahalee, her husband, Benoit, and their new child.

We'll spend most of the time in Chiang Mai relaxing, hiking around the mountains, eating the excellent cuisine, and taking a two day photography class.



If anyone has been to either of these places and has any suggestions for cool things to see or do, send me an email or post a comment.

maybe see a few of these guys

Another nice feature of big city living...

Park Ho Jung Violin Recital

Seoul International School's orchestra teacher, Mrs. Ryu, while away on pregnancy leave, was replaced by Ms. Ho Jung Park, an excellent violinist. Since we share a hallway and I would often here her performing while we were both at school in the evenings, when the opportunity to see her perform at Seoul Arts Center came, I jumped at it. Now, needless to say and without regard for the previous blog entry, I'm not a very musically inclined person. I'm more shoot-from-the-hip and less practice-for-hours-to-be-perfect. Ask my parents about how many hours I practiced the coronet in the basement. I'd say less than ten, and it showed in the performances.

That said, I can appreciate someone else's performance. So, away we went with a large group of teachers to the very grand and humongous Arts Center. She performed three pieces with piano accompaniment, two of which we stayed for (we had a ski trip planned the next day and needed rest).

I wanted to write about this concert for a few reasons. First, it wasn't at all what I expected. The second piece, Prokofiev's Sonata for violin and piano No.1 in f minor, Op.80, was really amazing. I'm not sure, but the composer died in the early fifties and I assume that the piece, due to its somber mood and discordant sounds, is what would be called in the art history world "Post-War." Far from the polished and graceful sounds of the piece before, a Beethoven piece, this one seemed to carry the listener to some very transcendental places, at least it did for me. Mainly, the combination of a very slow and odd piano with the discordant sound of the violin created a bit of a frightening feeling. Also, she used a mute of sorts to distort the sound of the violin, and this made the violin both difficult to hear and in a struggle with the piano, which was quite loud during this part.

Another surprising aspect of the concert (at least to me) was the interaction between the Ms. Park and her pianist, who also deserves a bit of credit. Often, the pianist would watch Ms. Park's movements very carefully in order to determine when to continue her notes or to stop. At the end of the piece, Ms. Park looked a little bit exhausted, as I'm sure the stress of performing in a venue as prestigious as the Seoul Arts Center added to the pressure of being flawless might be.

All in all, for my first solo violin performance, this event proved to be as engaging as any of the rock shows that I've been to in the past few years. Hopefully I'll be able to hit up a few more of these concerts in the near future.

Eric Clapton and his Band

On the 23rd of January, Abigail and I saw Eric Clapton and his band. The show was great, and more to come on it later, but first a little background information. Abigail has taken up the guitar, under the tutelage of our friend and excellent guitar player Jason Melgaard. So, when the chance to see Clapton came about, Abigail, Jason, and whole bunch of other people were pretty excited. I was not so excited. I've seen a lot of music in the past few years, and the best shows I've seen have been by newer musicians (The Constantines, Les Savy Fav, Cursive), while some of the worst have been by old timers trying to relive the glory days (The Rolling Stones, The Allman Bros. minus half the original band, and so on). Of course, there are a few who, as they've grown older have maintained some relevance. I'm reminded of Dylan and Tom Waites, both of whom have created grammy winning albums in the '90s and 2000s.

So, I assumed that Clapton would come to Seoul and do a greatest hits concert plus the "Unplugged" album with a focus on "Tears in Heaven"-type music. Plus, at 90,000 and 120,000 won ($95 and $125, respectively) I thought the price was to much to bear. Abigail and I, headed by my headiness, decided to save the money.

The day of the show, some of our colleagues called and offered us their tickets as their daughter was sick with pneumonia. So we went. It was awesome. In addition to Clapton on guitar, Derek Trucks, the son(?) of one of the Allman Bros. The concert was full of old blues songs and some pretty hard rocking stuff. One of the things that I appreciated the most was that Clapton brought along some new talent with him instead of filling the stage with a bunch of old guys who he could easily outshine. Clapton, Trucks, and Bramhall all had their own specialties, and Clapton never stole the glory or hogged the stage. It was really cool to see the three of them playing together. Far from being a bland, tiresome throwback concert, Clapton and the band tore it up and looked like they really were having fun. Additionally, I think he was surprised at the reaction from the Koreans, who really seemed into it.

Here's a link to a review of the concert plus the lineup and and the set lists, if you're interested.

New Year's Eve with the lakers and the 76ers

Abigail's uncle, Greg, scored us some sweet seats to the Lakers-76ers game at the Staples Center. Not many of our pics of the players turned out as the arena is a big place and we didn't have a big flash. But, it was a fun game. One thing that is really amazing to see with these athletes is their speed. Kobe, for example, at 6'6" and 220 pounds looks like he's just casually sauntering down the court...only to nearly instantaneously be dunking over some 7-footer. I guess since I've been playing a lot of basketball the past few years and discovering my own physical limitations, it's particularly amazing to see someone taller and heavier than me move SO MUCH faster and jump SO MUCH higher. I highly suggest taking in an NBA at some point as it's really different in person.

Here is the recap of the game

San Diego Zoo Pictures

Zebras lined up in their stalls. I like the play between the zebras' lines and the lines of the wire fence. Abigail did a nice job altering this photo.

The meerkats are pretty cool animals. They're very social and are full of character. I like these photos because the sunlight coming through the fur looks great, especially in the first photo. Here is some more info on meerkats.



This orangutan spent most its time sitting in the sun chewing on this pea. She looked really relaxed and comfortable. I know a lot of people don't like zoos for ethical reasons, but it seems as if San Diego Zoo (and others) do a lot of work to protect highly endangered species from areas of the world where conservation is a luxury way beyond basic human needs. Maybe someday, when these places have peace, the animals can slowly be reintroduced into their original lands.

The flamingo shot turned out really nice. I used the telephoto lens from about 10 feet away. As a result, If you zoom in on the original image, you can see some really exquisite detail. Notice the water drop on the birds wing. He had just been preening in the water.

This zoo is definitely worth a visit.