About

I'm an expat Californian who is obsessed with traveling to strange and exotic destinations in the former Communist Bloc. I also like tacos, surfing, and the geopolitics of oil. Washington, D.C. is currently my home, but I'm looking to break out of this fetid swamp someday. Read more about me here, check out my photo album, or send me an e-mail.

Currently...

Located in:
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Reading: Telex From Cuba

Watching: Nothing, really

Listening to: Jack's Mannequin, Rage Against the Machine, Arcade Fire, Gogol Bordello, The Clash

Playing: Soccer and Wiffleball (finally!)

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« April 2008 | Main

May 15, 2008

"You know, he should try spending a little more time in his own country"

A warning to all the Italians who will be visiting the United States, you might end up like poor Domenico Salerno, a Roman lawyer who intended to visit his American girlfriend but instead spent 10 days in a Virginia jail thanks to a few Customs and Border Patrol officers on a power trip.

No more wiffleball Sundays? (Feds shut us down AGAIN)

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Fort Reno Park, the site of this season's wiffleball Sundays, has been shutdown by the Feds due to high levels of arsenic found in the soil:

Research geographer Dr. Terry Slonecker said he was doing follow-up work on the clean up of World War I-era munitions and chemicals discovered in 1993 in the Spring Valley neighborhood near American University, when he detected the arsenic. However, it wasn't in Spring Valley, but in Fort Reno Park.

Slonecker said he was using a satellite imaging system that could detect grass and other vegetation growing in arsenic contaminated soil. One image pinpointed a huge area in the park.

A soil sample report confirming the findings caused the National Park Service to close the park. The heaviest concentration of arsenic is believed to be in the southwest corner, near the tennis courts.

The levels of arsenic found in the soil exceed the Environmental Protection Agency's safety threshold. Experts said that arsenic at a level of 43 parts per million requires a cleanup and that the preliminary tests at Fort Reno showed 100 to 1,100 parts per million.

Thankfully, I do not recall ingesting any of the soil during our games.

May 13, 2008

Oh, what a sacrifice

This is an article from the Washington Post, not The Onion:

President Bush said yesterday that he gave up golfing in 2003 "in solidarity" with the families of soldiers who were dying in Iraq, concluding that it was "just not worth it anymore" to play the sport in a time of war.

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," Bush said in a White House interview with the Politico. "I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

Bush said he decided to stop playing golf on Aug. 19, 2003, when a truck bomb in Baghdad killed U.N. special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and more than a dozen others.

He said he received word of the attack while playing golf during a stay at the family ranch near Crawford, Tex. Press reports at the time indicate he took the call from Condoleezza Rice, then his national security adviser.

"They pulled me off the golf course, and I said it's just not worth it anymore to do," Bush said in yesterday's interview.

Dude, January 20, 2009 can't come fast enough.

I Got a Crush...on Medvedev

Someone has taken the Obama girl video and replaced Obama with Russia's new president, Dmitry Medvedev:

More on this video from the Moscow Times:

The video opens with a then-candidate Medvedev promising a United Russia party congress that he would cooperate with former-President Vladimir Putin and, if elected, be true to Putin's policies.

But the busty young woman in the video — clad in a tight T-shirt with a Medvedev portrait that does a fair bit of moving around, is devoted only to the new president.

"You came into politics together with Putin," she sings breathlessly (and obviously dubbed) in Russian, while staring longingly at the new leader. "I didn't want anyone else as much as I want you. … I need to be sexy and cool with you. I've got a crush on a bear."

Medved, of course, is Russian for bear.

"I have dreams about you at night," she purrs on as she walks through a New York City scene in which all the street names have been changed to Cyrillic. "I want to have your children."

The rest of the footage consists largely of her posing in various stages of undress near pictures of the new president, with the name "Medved" appearing on her scanty, red and digitally altered panties.

The video is a humorous alteration of "I Got a Crush on Obama," a popular Internet video posted in June and featuring a young woman singing of her love for the U.S. presidential hopeful.

[...]

Compared with Boris Yeltsin, Russia's hard-drinking and often ailing first president, Putin, with his black belt in judo and moderate alcohol intake, looked like an impressive specimen. Numerous stories in the media touched on the theme of women having dreams — often erotic — about him.

So far, there are no reports of dreams linked to Medvedev, but a government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the press, said it was only "a question of time."

So will the transfer of power earn Medvedev some of Putin's macho image as well?

"Let's wait a little bit. Let's not rush the events," the official said jokingly.

One Kremlin spokeswoman, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the quality was not transferable.

"He is a young and attractive man, and it is normal to attract that kind of attention," she said, after which she refused to answer any more questions.

Yevgenia Baturina, the editor of the women's magazine Gloria, which is published by The Moscow Times' parent company, Independent Media Sanoma Magazines, said she found the idea of Medvedev becoming a sex symbol "rather funny."

"Women like strong men with the right expression in their eyes. Eyes that project force, intelligence, independence a certain 'bounce,' and sometimes even some obstinacy, are desirable," she said. "But Medvedev looks at Putin like he is looking at a divinity, and this is almost feminine."

"Even the animal 'medved' has nothing to do with Medvedev," she added. "Despite his surname, he has nothing in common [with a bear]. He looks more like a hare or a squirrel.

"So far, his rating among the ladies is, unfortunately, not very high," Baturina said.

One official with United Russia, the party headed by Putin, said the clip was a joke created by young people "who have their own way of looking at politics."

"What I'm sure of is that this is not something done by the opposition," he said. "They would never come up with such an idea. All they can do well is scream."

As for the danger that Putin might become jealous were Medvedev to replace him in the dreams of Russian women, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he didn't know the answer to the question.

"Medvedev is the head of the state, the president of the Russian Federation, and Putin is the head of the government. This is all I can say," he said.

May 12, 2008

ConocoPhillips refinery tour

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Last month, I toured the ConocoPhillips refinery located on the Delaware River in Trainer, Pennsylvania, which is just outside Philadelphia. The Trainer refinery has a processing capacity of 185,000 barrels a day, and processes light, low-sulfur crude oil from West Africa, Canada and the North Sea. I have previously toured an LNG terminal and a facility that produces gas turbines, but I've never been to a refinery before, so this was all very new to me. (The ultimate coup, I think would be a tour of an offshore rig in the Caspian Sea or or perhaps the Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico.)

The refinery tour was organized by the DC chapter of Young Professionals in Energy (YPE), which, as you've probably gathered, is an organization of young professionals who work for the various energy trade associations (like yours truly), government agencies, corporations, and consulting firms that are headquartered in Washington. If you were to look at the membership list, the sheer amount of acronyms would make your head spin.

While the refinery was obviously the main attraction on this field trip, the 2.5 hour bus ride to Philly was eventful in and of itself. We were driving north on I-95, the main highway on the east coast, when our driver suddenly swerved into the left hand lane, which was under construction, and came to a stop in the grassy median that divides the highway. He then proceeded to yell "I gotta go!", jump out of the bus, and run to the porta-potty on the median. We were all rather puzzled, and exchanged several "WTF?" looks. Our driver returned a few minutes later, announced "Now I gotta figure out how the eff to get outta here!" and started to back the bus out of the construction lane (which was sealed off with, you know, jersey barriers and cones and what not). Amazingly, he managed to get the bus out of the construction lane and back onto the freeway without killing all 25 of us.

We arrived at the refinery about an hour late due to several unscheduled stops like the one described above. ConocoPhillips provided us with a nice, warm lunch, so we dug in while the company representatives performed the standard safety briefing (as to be expected, it was much more thorough than the one we received at Chernobyl). The safety briefing was followed by a thorough overview of the refinery's operations and the various structures we would be seeing on the tour as well as a Q&A with the refinery manager and other representatives from the various departments.

What we were really looking forward to, of course, was the tour of the facility. Bill, the Public Affairs director, led us on a tour of the refinery, while our bus driver miraculously managed to not run into anything and start a fire. I imagine if he had, we probably would not have been invited back. A few of the things we saw on the tour: gas flare (acts as a safety device), catalytic reformer, cracking unit, liquefied gas storage units, cooling towers, and the dock facilities where the tankers unload their crude. This post would probably make a lot more sense if there were photos, but for security reasons you obviously cannot go around posting photos of energy infrastructure.

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Group photo

Overall, the tour was very enjoyable and I have a much greater appreciation for all the work required to refine crude into something my SUV can digest. Many thanks to Bill and the other ConocoPhillips employees for hosting the tour, as well as providing us all with souvenir mini mag lights to take home.

On a final note, our driver's bizarre behavior continued on the trip back home. He almost hit a few cars, including a SEMI TRUCK, exited the freeway and entered a lane for a truck scale (WTF?), and took a "shortcut" through Laurel that added 20 minutes to our journey time. Well, at least we left the refinery unscathed.

May 11, 2008

Gazprom: "the Kremlin’s wallet"

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Gazprom's Yuzhno-Russkoye gas field in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District of Russia

Today's edition of the NYTimes has a good overview of Gazprom, its relationship with the Kremlin, and the challenges the company faces in meeting growing demand for natural gas at both home and abroad. The accompanying photo gallery, "A Quest for Energy in Darkest Siberia", is also worth checking out.

With energy prices continuing to hit record highs, Gazprom is more influential than ever, both at home and abroad. Gazprom says that before 2014 it will surpass Exxon Mobil as the world’s largest publicly traded company — a goal that Mr. Medvedev himself endorsed before he became president.

[...]

Rich as it is, Gazprom faces big challenges in the Medvedev era.

Rising prices for steel, equipment and labor have caught the company at the outset of its largest capital program in two decades. Like other Russian companies, it invested little money maintaining or upgrading equipment in the 1990s. But the days of coasting on Soviet-era infrastructure are over, as output declines from fields first tapped in the 1970s.

To meet export commitments in Europe, as well as growing demand at home, Gazprom will have to spend at least $75 billion to bring its two largest fields in the Arctic into production within the next decade, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Yet exploring and extracting gas in a region where temperatures dip to 50 degrees below zero is technologically challenging, as well as expensive. Gazprom must build pipelines, gas processing plants, liquefied natural gas factories and a full panoply of supporting infrastructure like roads, railroads and ports. And to accomplish those feats, it moves thousands of tons of steel and heavy equipment to the middle of a vast, frozen swamp.

“The complexity and the size of it is what creates a huge challenge for Russia and for Gazprom,” said Vitaly V. Yermakov, director of research for the Russian and Caspian region at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

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Future vacation destinations

7 Abandoned Wonders of the Former Soviet Union: Deserted Cities, Buildings, Bases and More and 7 (More) Abandoned Wonders of the Former Soviet Union: From Mining Towns to Oil Rig Cities.

I'd really like to visit Neft Daşları (Oil Rocks), located in the Caspian Sea about 45km offshore of Baku, but apparently getting permission from SOCAR is next to impossible.

May 10, 2008

This is how the Russians celebrate my birthday

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Pretty cool, huh? Actually, this massive display of firepower was rolling through Red Square to celebrate Victory Day (День Победы), which commemorates the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. This was the first time in 18 years that the Russians paraded their nuclear missile launchers across Red Square:

The United States expressed no alarm over the parade. Russia has become a leading global arms exporter again, but its wares are almost all items designed decades ago. A Pentagon spokesman, echoing a view common among military analysts, had characterized the planned military review as a hollow show of dated gear bearing fresh coats of paint.

“If they wish to take out their old equipment and take it for a spin and check it out,” said the spokesman, Geoff Morrell, “they’re more than welcome to do so.”

Oh, snap.

Yeah, my roommates are pretty awesome

A few reasons why:
- Pineapple upside down cake
- Strongbow
- Russki Standart vodka
- Cookies with bacon in them (yes, bacon)
- oil rigs

Thanks, dudes.

May 08, 2008

Boris Johnson puts an end to the Circle Line Party

Not much fun, are you, Boris? But I will admit that he has an awesome first name. And how can you not love the guy's hairstyle?

Last Call on the London Tube:

London’s new mayor, Boris Johnson, left, said that he was banning alcohol on the city’s public transportation system, effective next month, in an effort to “end the problem of drunken and intimidating behavior on the Tube.” Some subway workers said they welcomed the move as a way to change the unpleasant late-night atmosphere in the subways. But Bob Crow, general secretary of the union representing transportation employees, said the plan had been put into place too hastily and would be difficult to enforce. “Perhaps the mayor will come out with his underpants on over his trousers like Superman one Saturday to show us how it should be done,” he told Agence France-Presse.

When I first moved to the UK, I was pretty shocked to see people eating fast food and downing cans of beer on the Tube. It was a big change from the DC metro system, where they arrest 12 year olds for eating french fries in the stations.

May 07, 2008

Cheated by the fortune cookie industry

We had Chinese food for lunch today. Of course, you can't have Chinese food without fortune cookies. So I open mine up, and my fortune is "The job is well done."

Whatever. So a few hours later I grab another cookie from the pile of leftovers, and my fortune is exactly the same as my previous one. WTF? Maybe this is a sign I should play the lotto numbers on the back.

"Lindsay, your strengths and weaknesses, as voted by your friends"

The Facebook application speaks, via e-mail:

Your friends have voted on your strengths and weaknesses:

STRENGTHS:
person with the best smile
person with the best sense of humor
most powerful

WEAKNESSES:
nicest
merriest

My parents will be thrilled to know that those high orthodontist bills were worth it. I am not sure where this "most powerful" characteristic comes from, however, as I am just a typical worker in our nation's capital. Still, I am vowing to make more of an effort to be merry, or whatever.

Nord Stream delays

Not at all surprising:

A pipeline that Russia and Germany want to build under the Baltic Sea is facing so much opposition and scrutiny that the pipeline company, Nord Stream, has yet to obtain a single construction permit from any of the countries surrounding the sea, according to government officials.

[...]

Since the announcement of the pipeline deal nearly three years ago, Nord Stream has been beset by problems. It has been forced to alter the routes because of a boundary dispute between Denmark and Poland. It has been refused access to Estonia’s territorial waters. And last month, Nord Stream abandoned the idea of building platforms to support the pipes after objections, based on environmental considerations, by Sweden.

The costs have also increased, from around 4.5 billion euros, or $7 billion, to about 7.4 billion euros, according to the company.

The financing can only be finalized once the company has agreed on the final route with the countries bordering the Baltic Sea. They include Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden, which have to issue the permits, and four other countries, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. As yet, Nord Stream has received no permits to start laying the pipes in the Baltic Sea.

May 05, 2008

Schenley Hell

Came across this story on DCist this morning. There was a fire in the dorm that I lived in while I was a sophomore at GWU. It wasn't until I watched the news report that I realized that the location where the fire started was my former bedroom. The window A/C unit caught on fire, or something. Honestly, I can't say I'm very surprised. Schenley Hall SUCKED. I distinctly remember one morning when I ran into a friend and fellow Schenley Hall resident who inquired as to why my roommates and I were not outside for the 3am fire alarm that morning. I had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently, all three of us slept straight through a fire alarm. Yeah GDub!


Huh?

From an AP article reprinted in the Washington Post:

Forces from Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia shot down two unmanned Georgian spy planes over the territory Sunday, an Abkhazian official said.

Georgia denied the assertion and traded accusations with Russia, which is struggling with the West for influence in the country strategically located on the Caspian Sea. The two nations each say the incident indicates the other is preparing for war over the breakaway region.

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Dude, where's Georgia? NOT ON THE CASPIAN.

May 04, 2008

I'd like to travel with these guys

They seem like the ideal travel companions. And they even wear flip-flops:

Holidays for most of us mean sun, sea and sand – but not for madcap Andy Drury and Nigel Green.

Instead of flicking through travel brochures looking for exotic hot spots, they check out the war zones and trouble spots where our Foreign Office warns people NOT to go — then go there.

During their adventures they have:

- Been shot at by Russian troops while trying to sneak over a border into Chechnya.

- Been chased by rampaging elephants in Uganda.

- Visited Chernobyl nuclear power station, risking radiation sickness.

- Fled the Taliban in Afghanistan.

- Been held at gunpoint by the Republican Guard in Iran.

Construction worker Andy, 42, and legal executive Nigel, 45, both from Puttenham, Surrey, have even been divorced by their long-suffering wives after their twice-a-year trips drove the women to distraction.

But the cousins, who reckon they each spend £3,000 a year on their adventures, keep going back for more.

Father-of-two Andy said: "Living on your wits and on the edge every day of your holiday is such a buzz. There is no way we could settle down with a book on a beach.

"In many of the places we go we meet UN peacekeeping troops who are in armoured cars and full battle kit while we stroll around taking pictures in shorts and flip-flops.

"We have eaten insects in Uganda, camel in the Sudan, bear in Trans-Dniester, a breakaway republic from Moldova, and had more goat curries than I care to think about."

Nigel said: "I think most of the government troops or rebels we encounter come to the conclusion we are not undercover soldiers or spies — but are just barking mad."

Required Reading

Comrades:

Biscuits with Honey
Cindy
Csaba's Flickr
Defined by Location
Dude, Where's the Beach?
EJ Takes Life
fabulous just fabulous
incredibly true misadventures of the gypsy & the jew
Kim's work blog
The Lonely Eater
Monsoon
My Life in Sin City
News to Hughes
Nick
Notes On The Day
The Cincysundevil Made Me Do It
Will’s Title is Too Long
With an "S"

Russia & the former USSR:

The Accidental Russophile
Baku News
Chernobyl and Eastern Europe
Chernobyl Children's Project International
Copydude
English Russia
Goodbye Baby Lenin
Johnson's Russia List
Kaukasus
Notes from Україна
The Oil and The Glory
Registan
Robert Amsterdam
RusEnergy
Russian Oil & Gas
Russian Pipeliners
Scraps of Moscow
Sean's Russia Blog
Siberian Light
Vilhelm Konnander
Vladimir Vladimirovich™
White Sun of the Desert

Energy:

Alexander's Oil and Gas Connections
California Energy Blog
Environmental Economics
The Oil Drum
R-Squared Energy Blog
This Week in Petroleum
The Watt
WSJ Energy Roundup

Washington DC:

DC Blogs
DCist
Metroblogging DC
The Heights they are a changin'
why.i.hate.dc

Politics:

Cato @ Liberty
Democracy in America
Free Exchange
get your war on
Political Cartoons
Wonkette

Sports:

6-4-2
7.62x54r
All Climbing
Baseball Musings
Chronicles of the Lads
Confessions of a Novice Surfer
Daily Bread
Halos Heaven
League of Angels
On Frozen Blog
Pearly Gates
Surfrider Foundation
WannaSurf
Your Daily Donkey

Middle East:

american short-timer
Back to Iraq
The Calm Before the Sand
Dan in the Desert
Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone
Michael Yon in Iraq

London:

An American in London
Evening Standard Headlines
Going Underground
Londonist

Travel:

Belly Button Window
blogjam
BootsnAll Travel Network
Gadling
Gridskipper
Knife Tricks
Stuck in Customs

Etc.:

best of craigslist
Daily Puppy
Freakonomics Blog
Google Maps Mania
Google Sightseeing
The Great Taco Hunt
Operation Eden
Passive Aggressive Notes
PostSecret
Waiter Rant
Wellington Grey
Wikipedia

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