Lets meet for coffee!!

"Virtual Coffee Break"
Originally uploaded by suzannemo.

5:30 on a Thursday. I am hitting a low..can't stare at the laptop screen any longer.. Bea MSNs me from El Salvador and we start joking about "Meeting for Coffee." What a great idea!!

Two digital cameras, one 30 minute international phone call, 5 minutes of playing in Adobe Photoshop and two cups of coffee later Bea and I are enjoying a "Virtual Coffee Break". Almost like the real thing :)

Hey, its not easy having your best friends all around the world, but it can make for some creative digital socializing!!!

The Guiltiest Guys in the Room

I saw a great movie this weekend "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room." Complete with first-hand accounts by Enron employees of the corruption leading up to Enron's ultimate downfall, the movie is DEFINITELY worth seeing.

After watching the movie I felt a sense of relief reading this:
"Lay and Skilling's Day of Reckoning" (CNN)

The jury today convicted Lay and Skilling of a combined 19 counts of fraud, conspiracy, fast statements, and insider trading.

Looks like the "Smartest Guys in the Room" just became the "Guiltiest Guys in the Room."

In the words of Abraham Lincoln "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."

Seventy Days and Seventy Nights in NYC

70 Days....That's how long I have before my big exodus from NYC. Just a little over two months left and so much to do. I spent 4 hours today just making lists of all the things that I need to take care of before i leave the country for a year.

I realized I have been cheating in the "nomad"game during the 7 years I have lived in NYC. I have spent more than half my time outside of the city during these years, but I have had the same home-base the whole time. Along with a steady home-base comes complicated things like furniture, appliances, mobile service contracts, and a HUGE collection of books. These are things that real nomads don't have to deal with.

There is something emotionally liberating about selling everything that you can't carry with you...but I think I am beyond that point in my life. I love my furniture. I love my books carefully collected over the last 15 years. I love the idea of spending a year abroad, but there is something therapeutic about owning "stuff".

I'm having such mixed emotions right now. Every day I grow more excited about the year I will spend in Morocco, but at the same time I can't help but let the melancholy start to creep in about what I am leaving behind. After seven years I can say, without a doubt, I LOVE NEW YORK.

The good news is that New York will always be here(unless of course you believe those movies which project that it will freeze over or be flooded or attacked by a huge gorilla)!! They say you never know what you have till you lose it...well, New York, in 70 days I'm going to lose you. Let's see how I feel about you a year down the road!!!

My Journalistic Debut

You know, for all the intelligent things I have said in my life it had to be THIS that got me quoted in the BBC :) Yes, that is right, I was the one chanting "Don't Die, Don't Die" as David Blaine heroicly tried to drown himself last night in Lincoln Center.

Makes you think...

saki's wreck
Originally uploaded by suzannemo.

This photo is taken at the scene of a major traffic accident in Cairo that one of my friends was in this week. A truck plowed over a bunch of cars, most of which burned in the explosion. Thank God my friend Hassan came out with only minor injuries to himself and not-so-minor injuries to his car.

He calls himself "Lucky" but I am becoming more and more convinced that Hassan is actually an alien or super-human since he has survived several crazy accidents that would have killed any normal person, each time coming out with only scratches. If he is, in fact "human" then God must keep saving him because he has big plans for him! Once those scratches heal up we expect big things from you Saki!

Paulo Coelho is Blogging!!

Paulo Coelho, my all time favorite author, has recent started blogging. You can check out his blog here: http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com/ .

Ever since I first read The Alchemist I have felt such a strong connection to Paulo and it is so great to see this more personal side of him. Of course I have read every book he has ever written (many two or three times and some in multiple languages), but his blog offers a whole new insight into his approach to life.

Paulo is proving more than ever that he is one of us...a true nomad! Here is an excerpt from a recent email I received from his mailing list:
Throughout the months of April, May and June, Paulo will be in Ukraine, where he will participate in the homage of the 20th birthday of Chernobyl, then Tunisia, Italy and Bulgaria. From Moscow, he will take the famous Tran Siberian train and will stop in the following cities Novosibirsk, Irkutsk y Vladivostock, to organize more book signings of Walking the Path.