I was a bit worried about my safety after reading about some others' experiences, but they must have been even bigger cowardly nerds than me. Although the crowds were very enthusiastic, there wasn't even a hint of violence (maybe things would have been different if I was wearing red and yelling "Mi Vida es River!").

For your viewing pleasure I posted a few pictures of the match and even put together some video...

I took some pictures and some video: ]]> http://www.happycynic.com/archives/travel/flamenco-night http://www.happycynic.com/archives/travel/flamenco-night Travel Aires Argentina Buenos Dancing Flamenco Travel Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:10:12 -0600 Today I attended a presentation by an Ashoka fellow, Trevor Dudley, who started The Kids League in Uganda. His innovative approach that started by educating the children of Uganda on HIV prevention through sports has made major impacts to the children living there. Not only have the children learned about HIV, but the program has also taught values of personal wellness, education and literacy. Furthermore, it has brought together children that were separated from families and society by guerilla warfare. Much of Uganda's strife in the 70's was apparent in the movie The Last King of Scottland

The following video shows the Ugandan Kids League star team as they meet the famous FC Barcelona soccer club:

Moreover, the talk today really left an impression on me as to what great work Ashoka is doing and how they stimulate change. The idea is all about empowering the individual (the one in one million) to bring about change. More recently they have expanded on this ideology to allow everyone in the world to participate in these changes. I highly encourage everyone to look into the competitions at www.changemakers.net where YOU can provide input on how to solve some of the world's major social problems.]]> http://www.happycynic.com/archives/life/losang-rabgey-t http://www.happycynic.com/archives/life/losang-rabgey-t Life Ashoka China DC Tibet Washington Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:52:52 -0600 If I have talked to you in the past year and you asked me what my plans were for the next few months, I probably responded with something like 'I don't know' or 'I'm just waiting'. This was primarily because I was waiting to join a volunteering program called Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP) that has been difficult to get lined up.

Well, I finally have a different response to that common question. Today I am writing from Arlington, VA where I am starting an ADP project with Ashoka Changemakers. I am taking a significant cut in pay in order to provide my skills to an organization that makes a direct impact on improving the lives of people in developing nations. I am very glad that I am in a point in my life where I am able to do this.

I will be working in the Washington DC area for the next month or so and then plan to move the project to a location somewhere in South America (most likely Brazil or Argentina). The entirety of the project is 4 months long, so it looks as though I could be in South America for up to 3 months.]]> http://www.happycynic.com/archives/travel/start-of-adp http://www.happycynic.com/archives/travel/start-of-adp Travel adp ashoka changemakers dc washington Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:32:53 -0600 I finally completed an overhaul of my website to bring it up quasi "Web 2.0" standards (I use quotes because I'm not quite sure what "Web 2.0" is although many people seem to have opinions on the subject). Anyway, I changed up the following:

• Added activity streams that should provide updates on what I am doing on various others sites such as Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter and more.
• Added AJAX photo viewing via script Lightbox 2 while maintaining my previous integration with Flickr.
• Added some color to my previously bleak grey and white layout. Futhermore, I can re-style my site quickly and easily now using Movable Type plugins.
• Hid those scary file extensions in my URLs. Now it shouldn't be so apparent from the URL only that I am using PHP

I hope everyone out there enjoys the new site style. Any suggestions, feedback or criticisms are welcome. Hopefully with the addition of the activity streams, it will be simpler for me to maintain some content on the site.]]> http://www.happycynic.com/archives/website/happycynic-20 http://www.happycynic.com/archives/website/happycynic-20 Website Technology Website Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:33:23 -0600 I just read a well-written insightful article from Atlantic.com. No matter what side of the political spectrum your beliefs lie, this article is still worth a read.

"Goodbye to All That" by Andrew Sullivan, Antlantic.com]]> http://www.happycynic.com/archives/random/goodbye-to-all http://www.happycynic.com/archives/random/goodbye-to-all Random Barack Obama Politics Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:52:01 -0600 I just wanted to write a quick post wishing all my faithful readers a Happy New Year! I'll leave you with a picture of an Iowa sunset taken outside my aunt's house on Christmas day near Tripoli, IA.

After I settled in back home, I hooked up the Wii for the family to play. It turns out that Wii bowling is the family sport and my mom takes the championship. The surprising upset was an up and coming 90 year old grandma tying my father. Again, a few photos...

BTW, if you can't tell from the subject of this post, I don't have to much new to report in the world of Mike. I am still staffed in Minneapolis and still working with the same client. I am still with Vina and things are still going well. Lastly, for the first time in a long time, I have no plans for upcoming travel.]]> http://www.happycynic.com/archives/the-return-of-c http://www.happycynic.com/archives/the-return-of-c Site Work Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:16:12 -0600 I recently returned from a 3 week stay in Pune, India where I was working. The trip was interesting, but not as exciting as many of you may imagine. Most of my time was spent working and during the rest of my time there was fairly consistent rain. I also went to Bangalore for a couple days for some more general meetings with some other teams and was able to compare/contrast north vs. south India a little.

I have posted the few pictures I did take here]]> http://www.happycynic.com/archives/india http://www.happycynic.com/archives/india Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:36:36 -0600 A couple weeks ago I took a trip with Vina to Beijing, China for a week escape from the working world. The trip was excellent due mostly to the near perfect weather and the best tour guides you could ask for. Vina's aunt and cousins took us to practically every tourist must see site in and around Beijing, plus we had the added benefit of dining with the family.

I have trimmed down the 1,000+ pictures we took to just a bit over a hundred. You can take a look at them here.

Vina also took a few videos that are a nice change to view instead of pictures.

1. Video from the Great Wall
2. Video of Our Hotel Room
3. Video from Behai Park

Like I said, the trip was excellent, but for me, the return flight was not so enjoyable. About halfway through my flight from Beijing to Tokyo I starting feeling quite ill. After a trip to the lavatory and filling a few sickness bags, I started to realize something might be wrong. In Tokyo, I made it to my connecting flight to Minneapolis after a few runs into the airport bathroom. I kept up my frequent trips to the lavatory for the full 10 hours of the flight.

After arriving home, I went immediately to the emergency room where they treated me for dehydration and "traveler's diarrhea". I went home that night attempting to drink water and get some rest. Unfortunately I was unable to drink enough water to keep up with my sickness, and I went back to the emergency room the next day. This time I remained in the hospital for a couple of nights until I was finally able drink enough water and eat a little food.

A week or so later I am finally feeling like my normal self. After the diagnosis of salmonella poisoning, I have narrowed down the culprit to a breakfast pastry containing egg and meat. Now I am trying to remember the trip for all the fun it was and not the hospitalizing sickness that followed.]]> http://www.happycynic.com/archives/beijing-and-back-again http://www.happycynic.com/archives/beijing-and-back-again Wed, 06 Jun 2007 13:54:07 -0600 Wow, it has been a really long time since my last update. For those of you who actually check in every once and awhile, I'd like to give you a little update on what's been going on in my life.

First off, I went on a week long ski trip to Whitefish Montana (Big Mountain) with Jon, Courtney, my roommate Nate, and Vina. We stayed at Nate's family's beautiful town home and had a rip-roaring good time. The pictures from this trip have actually been online for quite sometime, I just never posted about them. They can be found here.

After Montana, Vina and I took a weekend getaway to Chicago to visit the city and friends. We were able to meet up with Lena and Cam. Here are some pictures:

Our most recent trip was to Iowa to show Vina what the land of corn is all about. We toured all of Cedar Falls and Waterloo, viewed family photos and learned all there was to know about the emus.