Resolve

Two more packages came from the States today bearing Christmas presents to us.  I really appreciate all the gifts that generous people from two continents have sent.  I wish I could give more than I do.  I also wish that I could have the forethought and ambition to send out Christmas cards...but I am the way I am.  One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to send Christmas cards next year and forever more.  We’ll see if that works.
Normally, I don’t make resolutions.  They don’t get followed because, well, because I’m a lazy bum who’s happy the way he is!  But this year, one of the resolutions is to stop being such a lazy bum.  I want my agility and limberness (is that a word?) back.  I want to be able to stretch down and touch my toes again.  I want to be able to wrestle with my ever-growing son without having to worry about my back.  I also want to be able to feel better about the things I do in a day.  So, I hereby state, in front of the entire world (or at least my humble readership) that I, Eric Rubén dos Santos shall get into better shape over the year 2006 and stay in better shape for the rest of my life.  
Now, how do I plan to do this?  I have such deep-seated issues with communal locker rooms that swimming regularly is virtually out of the question.  I only run when chased (again I’m reminded of Emo Philips, “I ran three miles the other day.  Finally, I said, ‘Lady, take your purse.’”). But I love to walk and that’ll be a good beginning at getting back some of the endurance and strength I had when I was in my prime.  I am also going to shell out money to join a yoga class.  You see, my masochistically generous grandmother Marie decided to give me a large sum of money (from what income I have no idea) and I have decided to use it to buy me health in the form of yoga.  I figure that because yoga lessons are so expensive up here it’ll be a real inspiration for me to go regularly if I’ve paid an arm and a leg.  
So, that’s my plan.  First, I’m going to finish out my Christmas vacation of laziness.  I, myself, am utterly shocked at the level of laziness I have achieved on this vacation so far.  I’m also amazed that not only has my dear wife allowed me the opportunity to attain a new world record for laziness, she has joined me for hours at a time of nothing-doing!  I knew she was the right woman for me.  But as soon as this vacation is over, I’m going to hit the books running.  I’m going to walk into that yoga class with determination in my eyes.  I’m going to walk for at least an hour on days when I don’t go to yoga.  I’m determined to return my body to an acceptable state.

The Day After Christmas

Hideeho, it's the day after Christmas and I finally managed to pry my eyeballs off the lap top screen which was displaying Civilization IV all day yesterday.  I stopped once for a little taste of food and coffee (of course), but for the most part I did nothing but sit on my fat pimply behind and squint at my new game.  This new version of the game is far better than the last.  There are very many more options to choose from in running your civ (scientific research, religions, governments, philosophies, improvements, units, etc.) and coupled with an entirely new load of graphics and music it seems to be an entirely different game, loosely based on Civilization III.  I'm not completely happy, though...after all, nothing is perfect.  Production takes longer, it's still overly biased against the human competitor, and it's a little bit less comfortable to move around on the game board.  But these are minor problems.  All in all, I give it 5 stars (of five).  My kids' names were on it and I have thanked them both.Today I get to go to a Christmas party with my good buddy Addi and his family (Inga's good buddy Sigga Ragga, Guðjón's good buddy Almar, and their painfully cute daughter Alba).  The company where Addi works is inviting all of the employees to a party (as is often the norm here in the land where Christmas is, at least, a 13 day affair).  Tomorrow is going to be a day of serious cleaning that will culminate in a, no doubt, fantastic meal with Þórunn, Binni, and Óskar.  They are always great company.  After that, I don't really know what to expect for the rest of my nice long vacation.  But I know I can't spend quite so much time in Civ IV as I did yesterday.  I almost forgot that I had a family yesterday!  I hope that wherever you are, and whatever your religion, you have a great mid-winter holiday season.  Hey, just because you are not Jewish, Muslim, or Christian, doesn't mean that celebrating at this time of year is wrong.  Try to think of the people you know who might be lonely and invite them into your little circle of happiness.  Nobody should be depressed at this time of year.Do my Indian friends have a major holiday at this time of the year?  Time for another web search...

But in this time when we Christians are supposed to be thinking fondly of Jesus and pondering our understanding of faith, I am suddenly reminded of Emo Philips, who prayed:
     Lord please break the laws of the universe for my convenience.

Finally on Vacation

     Here I am, done with my exams.  Another semester of my second bachelor’s degree is finished.  It feels good.  Yesterday (the first day after my last exam) I lay in bed until noon!  That was the first time I’ve done that since...well I don’t know when.  It was great.  I really like school.  I like what I’m learning and the exams that I just worked through show me that I have learned a lot in the last two and a half years.  Some days I felt like I had put a few more wrinkles in my brain.  
     Now Christmas is just 5 days away.  That’s because in the old days in Iceland the new day was said to begin at 18:00 (6:00 PM).  I don’t know why, it just was that way.  So, Christmas is celebrated on December 24th instead of on Christmas day.  Interesting.  It actually is kind of fun.  We get up rather early and finish cleaning the house if there’s anything left to do.  Then I dive into the kitchen where I’m up to my elbows in cooking for the feast.  Inga likes to have turkey with everything with it.  We’re going to have that again this year.  I like the tortiére stuffing recipe that my grandmother passed along in the family from Quebec.  But Inga likes the bread stuffing recipe that’s on the back of the Bell’s Seasonings box.  So, we usually have both.  I cook the meat stuffing in a frying pan and we have the bread in the bird.  Mmmm mmmm!  I need to find someone who will help me eat the cranberry sauce, though.  Nobody in my family likes it.  We always end up throwing away a whole bunch of wonderful cranberry sauce. I guess I should just make less of it, but I’m a glutton when I’m cooking.  When I was a kid and putting food on my plate, my mother used to say that I had eyes bigger than my stomach.  The same holds true when I’m cooking.  I always make waaaaay too much food compared to the number of people that will be eating it.  I’ve noticed certain trends, however.  For instance, the mashed potatoes I make are one of the few things that I always get right.  They are the best mashed potatoes in the world.  They always manage to disappear before everything else.  See, when I cook all this stuff for a family of four we have leftovers in the `fridge for a dog’s age.  But somehow, the potatoes are on the endangered species list after two days and definitely extinct before the end of the third day.  
     Today I’m going to go try to find a suitable gift for the little lady (as people used to call their wives in the old days).  I know what I want, but I suspect I’ll have to go to several stores to find exactly what I want.  Heh heh, she’s not expecting this present!  Ha ha, Inga, þú veist ekki hvað ég ætla að gefa þér!  
     Well, I’m off to clean a little bit around here before I go to the store.  I’m going to try to post something every day until Christmas, so stay tuned.

The Grinch in me liked this one!

Squish

Diet time

Christmas is coming!

Thanks Mel

My dear sister Melody is the one who provided me with the incredibly accurate photo of me for my profile. Those who know me know what a great job she did. I felt like thanking her. I've added a little something to go along with the upcoming holiday.

Falafel

Paul wanted to know what falafel is.  Truth be told, I was not too sure myself, having never made it.  I just know what it tastes like.  I used to order it everytime I went to a restaurant in Central Square in Cambridge, MA called The Middle East.  It was a staple of my weekend diet for a couple of years and since I have stopped going there so frequently it's one of the things that I miss.
Anyway, this is from cooking.com:

Although falafel is made from chickpeas over here, in Lebanon it is usually made from dried fava beans, with a handful of dried chickpeas sometimes thrown in. Favas have a wonderful flavor, but if you can't find them, dried white beans, such as cannellini or navy, can be substituted. Street vendors usually tuck falafel into pita bread with chopped lettuce and tomato and plenty of tahini sauce. At home, the balls can be served as an hors d'oeuvre, with a bowl of Tahini Sauce for dipping.

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

1 cup dried peeled fava beans (7 ounces), soaked overnight
3/4 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons water
Pure olive oil or canola oil, for frying
Tahini Sauce (see recipe)

RECIPE METHOD

Drain and rinse the favas and chickpeas and put them in a food processor. Add the onion, parsley, cilantro, garlic, baking powder, salt, cumin and crushed red pepper. Pulse, scraping down the side of the bowl, to form a coarse paste. Add the water and process until the mixture is gritty but fine and brilliant green. Scrape the paste into a bowl.

In a medium saucepan, heat 2 inches of oil to 350 degrees F. Scoop rounded tablespoons of the falafel mixture into the hot oil and fry in small batches until browned and crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels set over a wire rack and serve hot, with Tahini Sauce.

Recipe created by Nancy Harmon Jenkins.
Recipe reprinted by permission of Food and Wine. All rights reserved.

Nutrition Facts
Makes 2 dozen balls
Facts per Serving
Calories:      66        Fat:      2g        Carbohydrates:      9g  
Cholesterol:      0mg        Sodium:      91mg        Protein:      3g  
Fiber:      3g        % Cal. from Fat:      27%        % Cal. from Carbs:      55%  

Some Answers

So, here’s a list of things about me. I stole this from the “Poor Indian Grad Student” who’s linked in my links list. I thought it was an interesting list of qualities. So, I wrote in my own answers. Some of mine were his, as well. Interesting. I sometimes get e-mails like this (as I’m sure most of you do) and I usually answer them, though I don’t usually pass them along because I know a lot of people hate them. But, anyway, maybe you can learn a little bit about me today.

7 things that I plan to do and will do
1.) teach my children to be decent people
2.) travel to Argentina, New Zealand, and again to Costa Rica
3.) succeed at what I set out to do and accept that I am not perfect when I can’t
4.) learn more about Asian and African cultures, cooking, and environmentally friendly living
5.) volunteer more help in my community
6.) not sweat the small stuff. not let people/minor situations ruin my day.
7.) die next to my wife at an old age

7 things that I can do and like doing
1.) identify animals
2.) hike
3.) have intelligent discussions
4.) photography
5.) be good to people I like
6.) cook
7.) do my work and have my fun (without one affecting the other!)

7 things I can't do
1.) lie
2.) do something that doesn't interest me.
3.) talk to/appear to like someone I don't like. be fake
4.) enjoy materialism in all its ugly forms
5.) dance
6.) math
7.) sunbathe

7 phrases I use often
1.) hey dude
2.) don’t worry about it
3.) Actually
4.) What?!..
5.) nigga (only with white people as a joke)
6.) hey
7.) F*** (and it's variants)

7 things I like to eat/drink
1.) plain cheese pizza
2.) root beer
3.) Falafel
4.) leg of lamb
5.) Coffee
6.) Nice wine/beer
7.) Thai food

Warning: Syrupy Bog Ahead

English:  Soppy; slushy; sloppy; sentimental; saccharine; queasy; namby-pamby; mushy; mawkish; gooey; fulsome; fruity; corny; cloying
Icelandic:  væminn; tilfinningalegur; tilfinningasamur

These are the words to describe how I feel today.  
I’ve been doing almost nothing but reading since Sunday.  It’s really slowed me down a bit.  I don’t feel angry or stressed.  I’m not hyper or jovial.  But maybe this has more to do with the fact that this morning when my alarm went off at 6:45 and I tried to reset it, I mistakenly set it for 7:50 instead of 7:05.  At least I think it was a mistake.  Anyway, back to the way I feel today.  I feel this way because…well actually, it may be because Christmas is coming (though I’ve always felt more like the Grinch).  Things are still going full speed right now but I know that in less than two weeks I’ll be on vacation.  I feel very close to my boy today.  We were alone for a while tonight as the wife and the daughter went off to do their own separate things this evening.  I watched a bit of television with him and then I read him a story.  I brushed his little teeth.  The toothbrush tickling the roof of his mouth always makes him laugh.  That makes it harder for me to do my job and the tickling lasts longer than it would otherwise.  We talked a little.  Then he went to bed.  Sometimes I lie in bed and read and let him fall asleep next to me.  I love to hear his little breath.  His fingers twitch as sleep takes him off into the magical world of Dream.  He’s a very beautiful boy (of course, I’m his father and thinking anything else would be considered wrong).  He’s got a couple of little scars on his face.  Once he fell off the couch and smashed his mouth into the edge of the coffee table hard enough to push his teeth through his bottom lip.  But for the most part, he looks like a perfect little sculpture made of some light brownish soapstone or maybe polished jasper.  Sometimes I find it impossible to read when he’s like that.  I just have to stare at him.  
How can it be that I had a hand (so to speak) in making this little thing?  I’ve never made anything so beautiful before him; there was no precedent that would lead me to believe that I’d ever be able to make something like him.  But his mother is beautiful, maybe that explains it.  Everyone here says they see her in him and they see that Dagbjört’s his sister.  I don’t see that.  He doesn’t look anything like any of us, if you ask me.  
A lot of men that I have met or I heard about seem to really want to spend as little time at home as possible.  I don’t understand that.  They say that it’s macho to work 90 hours a week or go out “for a cold one with the guys”, or both.  Why would anyone want to just sit at home...unless there’s a game on the telly.  But then you have to talk to your wife and who wants that headache?  She won’t leave you alone to watch the tv and drink your beer, right?  I figure that these people are examples of those who stopped developing when they stopped growing.  They’ve got their priorities backwards.  Or they’re married to the wrong person.  Or they’re afraid to admit the truth to themselves or anyone else that they actually do love the family they had a part in forming.  They’re losing a fantastic opportunity but they won’t realize it until they are dying...too late.
I’m going to spend the rest of my life doing everything that I can to make sure that I get to spend as much quality time as possible with my family.  Once the kids are out building their own lives, I’ll spend free time traveling with Inga.  We’ve got a long list of places to go.  We have lots of books that need reading.  I think I’ll be one of those old people who never seem bored.  I’ve got so much to do “when I have time to.”  But it all starts now.  Why not live for today?  
I enjoy what I’m doing in my life right now.  There are things I want to change and all that, but for the most part, I perceive my life as a success.  My son is a good example of that.  He’s a strong runner and can climb like a monkey.  He’s good to the other kids at the playschool-helping the little ones and playing with the big ones.  He has very little trouble speaking two languages.  He’s naturally curious-especially about animals.  He’s lively but mostly well behaved.
He’s my greatest accomplishment.  

Lighten up

Woah, this has been an unusual week. Lots of studying and stress and stuff. But my sense of humor is not dulled too much by recent life experience. Yesterday i got a good laugh out of an article in the paper about some guys who were busted in Eskifjörður (my wife's home town) for smuggling meat into the country on the trawler on which they crew. A man was quoted as saying that they were, "Just some guys trying to save the holidays after a period of little work." That is, there hasn't been the customary flood of capelin (a small fish used to make fish meal) that these men rely on during the winter months. A possible collapse in the capelin population has really stirred things up-on the other hand, what caused the collapse? Could it have been overfishing at a time when the water is heating up to a temperature uncomfortable for the capelin causing them to school farther north? Hmm. Aaaanyway, the funny thing was that these guys were said to be smuggling in enough to feed them for the holidays. It was funny beause there were 12 of them (I think) and they had half a ton of meat with them! Admittedly, one of the guys has a huge extended family and was most likely just going to give all his relations the meat. But, c'mon guys...HALF A TON?! Did they really think it wouldn't be noticed? If smuggling were tht easy, there would be a lot more drugs here.

The weather here has been phenominal lately. We've gotte na cold snap and there is no wind. The sky was so beautiful yesterday evening that even my five year old boy noticed it. This morning, we got stiff necks on the way to playschool because we were looking up at the myriad stars glittering in the sky.

I'm in a good mood despite the fact that I have an exam in about 3 hours. Partially because tomorrow is going to be Thanksgiving in my house and tonight I'm going to make chocolate truffles to have with coffee after dinner tomorrow.