We Bought The Farm

On a geek jones

If my sympathies may at times seem a bit Luddite (like, say, in the preceding entry), let me say that I'm also drawn to the nirvana of geek toys, too. If there's a perfect world of playthings for me, it includes the toys to make the most of my mobility.

We've recently managed to set up a wireless network in our apartment (I finally gave in and bought a copy of XP for our desktop). I've also managed to get rid of every piece of potentially illegal software. I've migrated us from WinAmp to iTunes (I've now even downloaded from the Apple Music store - my mother sent me two free tunes from her Pepsi tops). I'd love to go Linux, but I'm really not ready for it yet.

From my perch here in Brazil, I've been writing a wish-list for a time when I don't live in a country with such high customs duty. Given the bounds of my life, I can almost say that this is it: this is all I want to be able to do with computers and gadgets:

1) Take good digital photos. I have a good Nikon SLR outfit (F3 with 5 lenses) for taking film pictures. I would like to be able to use some of that glass for digital photography. I appreciate that there's a time and a place for film (there was a credible and passionate defense of film as a guest posting at 2 Blowhards recently), but most of what I photograph I want to be able to use and share digitally. I was tempted by the Nikon D100 when I had the chance to fool with it last year, but now there's the Nikon D70, with excellent features, cheaper than the D100, and with its own lens in the outfit price. I think this is probably the camera for me.

2) Take my music with me. We are nearing 1000 CDs in our collection. Like other possessions, they start to own you after a while. We designed our living room bookshelves to be able to hold about 750, and now we've outgrown that. We came out to Brazil with maybe 80 CDs and that has grown to an overflowing collection of maybe 250 (I love Brazilian music and took great advantage of the weak Real last year, when CD prices dropped to £3-4 apiece).

As with photo film, I don't have the connoisseur's ear for the nth degree of perfection that insists on analogue or even CD-quality for every occasion (especially on foot or in the car). I will be very happy to set up the following configuration: a high-capacity HD (like this Maxtor 300GB external ($1 per GB!)), an Apple iPod (40GB, please) and some good quality noise-cancelling headphones (like these Bose ones maybe?). To be able to dial into my 100GB of CDs, pick 40MB to travel with, and not be owned or limited by the discs and boxes - ahh!

My technology fantasy then, for maybe a couple thousand dollars. I can get everything I think I want. Does it ever end? Ack! I feel like such a consumer! I want to get it out of my system - I admit I'm suffering from conflicting urges. Somehow I see simplicity in this configuration.

Re-reading Hoinacki

I made a sort of commitment to myself that during Lent I would concentrate my reading on more spiritual subjects. I have never read the New Testament through, so that's on my reading list (I've read Matthew and Mark so far). I also intended to read some of the works of St John of the Cross. And while I've been doing a bit of that reading, I've also fallen back into the writings of Lee Hoinacki (see my Thinking Over page).

Hoinacki's book Stumbling Toward Justice is a recounting of a life spent rejecting conventional modes of living in search of a more authentic existence, outside the grip of institutions. Hoinacki calls the modern conception of progress "a lie, a terrible and cruel trap." At times he's a bit cantankerous and un-PC; bitterly critical of universities, medical treatment, transportation, agriculture, even modern childhood. To me, while his stated objective is to "sow doubt", his words ring with truth. He's a man who awoke to the gifts of his own upbringing as the son of a frugal immigrant in small-town America in a simpler time; who realises that America was not made for what it has become.

What the heck was that?

A storm out of season, out of place. Dubbed Catarina for its landfall in the state of Santa Catarina, but totally unexpected. The powerful storm that struck Brazil's south this week has everyone wondering: what to call it? It looks like a hurricane, but it's not in hurricane territory, or in season. Ciclone? Tufão? Furacão? Temporal?

Whatever the name, when heavy weather hits Brazil, the people suffer. Houses are not built for high winds and torrential rains. Land slips, mud slides. Entire houses blow away. Those with poor shelter die.

Alistair Cooke

A sad but not unexpected passing, the BBC's Alistair Cooke has died, aged 95. I read a few weeks back about how Mr Cooke's ill-health had spelled an end to his weekly programme, "Letter from America."

I'll confess that recently I'd been a pretty indifferent listener to the programme. Every time I tuned it, it seemed to be about golf. I respect it more for the institution it had become. No one lives forever, but give Cooke credit - he carried on for 58 years and only missed three installments. He started his letters when he was my age (37), and carried it on for the rest of his life.

I'm not sure how well-known Cooke is in the US. I remember him from some films we saw in elementary school in the 1970s. That sort of puts it in perspective for me. He had a 30+ year career since then, and had already had one before that time. He seemed to genuinely love what he was doing.

While it's hard to imagine a more British voice, I guess from his "honorary" knighthood that he had accepted US citizenship at some point many years ago.

A Visit to Chile

We are back from our family vacation in Chile. We really enjoyed our trip, although travelling with two little ones is demanding and tends to impact what you can do. After our travels in Peru last year, we decided to limit our moving around and stick to three centres for the 9 days we had in-country. In Peru we moved every day.

The fish market in Santiago

We started off in Santiago. I was impressed, but at the same time found it a bit sterile. A modern and prosperous city, but with an old core. Similar in some ways to Lima, I thought, although richer. I would say generally of Chile that the country is more prosperous than either Peru or Brazil. Where there is poverty, it seemed better-off than in other countries.

We had a couple of days to explore Santiago, and that seemed enough. We saw the major sites: the Club Hípico, the Moneda palace (seat of government, badly damaged in the 1973 coup, but restored today), the cathedral, the statue of the Virgin Mary on San Cristobal hill. We also enjoyed a wonderful seafood lunch (ceviche and almejas) in the Mercado Central. I let my Lenten fasting regime slip in Chile (intentionally) as part of the point of the trip was to taste Chile - the food and the wine, especially.

While in Santiago, we also made a trip out to the Maipo valley, where we visited the Undurraga winery. They had a good tour, but not a very good tasting (only one wine was offered - a carmenere - but a good wine it was).

My family and the 2004 Cabernet-Sauvignon

After that, we moved on to Santa Cruz, in the Colchagua valley. There's a fine hotel there - the Santa Cruz Plaza. That was our base to visit the wineries of Bisquertt and Viu Manent. The latter was a real highlight of our trip, with a horse-carriage tour of the vineyards and sampling of the wines right from the holding tanks. Both wineries had a good range of wines to sample and to buy.

Also from Santa Cruz, we had the opportunity to visit the local museum, which has a fantastic collection relating to Chile's history, from pre-Columbian to the modern-day, and also to an old hacienda house that belonged to a former president of Chile. It was donated to the Chilean army in the 1970s in its original condition and is today open to the public.

One of the volcanoes peeks through the clouds

And then we moved on, flying south to Puerto Montt, the entry point for the Lakes district. This was the other real highlight of the trip. We stayed right on Lago Llanhique at Puerto Varas. At 41 degrees south, this part of Chile was well into autumn, and it was "chilly in Chile". The volcanoes overshadowing the lakes were snow-capped. The lakes were blue and cold (although some hardy souls were swimming in them). I particularly enjoyed visiting a little village called Frutillar and the farm country around it. This whole area was nearly empty until settled by Germans in the mid-1800s. They cleared the forest and have settled into mostly dairy and orchard farming. From Santiago south, you really see how agricultural Chile is, and suddenly it's no surprise how much produce in the Northern Hemisphere winter comes from Chile (food miles be damned).

The Tronador glacier on the Argentina-Chile border

From Puerto Varas, we took a day trip on the Cruce de Lagos - a passage through the Andes to Bariloche, in Argentina. We went only as far as Peulla, on the Chilean side, but it afforded some wonderful views of the volcanoes and glaciers in the Andes.

Generally, I was enchanted by the wine country; by its scenery (arid valleys, olive groves and vineyards). It had a very Mediterranean feel. But overall, I think I fell even harder for the farmlands around Lago Llanhique. It's refreshing to actually see the farmers out in their fields working the land. In the back of my mind I couldn't help but add this to my short list of "I could live here" places.

dba

I'm "co-branding" my blog from today as I move over to my new name, We Bought The Farm. The bandiera link will work for a long time yet, but I want to make sure I claim namespace for We Bought The Farm, since I bought the domain name.

I've been remiss lately, and I reckon it's going to last a while longer. We're off on a long-anticipated holiday to Chile next week. And with my Lenten devotions, I find myself lacking much spare time of late and not much of any import to comment upon.