Hella Solutions blog: "Document. Share. Inspire."

The two best places to get drinks in the U.S. are The Violet Hour in Chicago and Tommy’s Tequila Bar in San Francisco. There are likely others but for quality, taste, and honest drinks you’d be hard-pressed to find better.

The Violet Hour is run by true drink nerds with amazingly creative talents. On top of that the bartenders are not only capable but eager to take your likes and creating something on the spot. I have found very few places confident and creative enough to do such a thing. And for that they have my undying love and respect.

Tommy’s is the simply the best for margaritas and ultra high quality sipping tequila. If you think Cuervo when tequila is mentioned you have got to make a trip to Tommy’s. They have near one hundred 100% agave tequilas! Every margarita (“nectar of the G-d’s” as they call it) is made to order with fresh squeezed lime and taste tested by the talented bartenders. Say hello to Julio, the owner, if you go!

Happy Saturday!

California Restaurants, Happy Friday, travel

I only have a few minutes left on my 1 hour of Internet time so I will simply say, I’m ready to come home. Here’s a shot from the streets of Alexandria. Like Cairo, people walk amongst the cars like they are made of steel. So, we’re scheduled to fly back home tomorrow after our mid-east trip. We started in Jordan, went to Cairo, then to Alexandria, then back to Cairo, then to Luxor, then to Aswan via a boat down the Nile and then we flew back to Cairo this afternoon. Three solid weeks of non-stop traveling has burned this humble traveler out. See ya’all soon…many more photos and audio to come. Visit www.imagine2050.net for my scheduled Blogcast coming by mid-July.

travel

Our four days in Cairo were booked solid so I’ve been unable to post anything for the past few days. Well, that and the fact that the hotel we were in charges $30US for twenty-four hours of Internet use. Total highway robbery (IMHO). So, the hotel we are at now in Alexandria only charges $20US for one day of use. Phew, at least someone out in the world isn’t trying to rip off customers -sarcasm-. You’d think $10+ for a beer and may be $10 for Internet use would line their pockets well enough. Se la vie…I’m going to do mainly a photo recap of the last few days as I want to get out exploring Alexandria since we are going to ditch the tour today …

Cairo from the hotel room balcony…

The Nile from the hotel room balcony…

Shot from the tour bus on our way to view pyramids…

We will leave our ancestors a globe full of waste while the we ponder the past…

The Lonely Planet guide quotes a person saying that viewing the Sphinx is kind of like seeing your favorite Hollywood actor in person: “Wow, they’re a lot smaller than I imagined”….

The Mosque of Muhammad Ali. No boxing jokes/puns please…

More Cairo skyline from the Mosque of Ali…

Wow! You remember these things? I thought soda companies eliminated pull tabs back in the 1980s…

From the bus we passed a paddy wagon. It was at least 100 degrees outside…

A group of young Muslim women wave and smile as we pass…

Seems like every hotel we stay at is in repair…

I’ll be posting some new audio soon…

Peace!

Noah

p.s. Any Americans nervous about visiting this part of the world shouldn’t be. Sure our leaders have really fucked up our image but the majority of people you will encounter on the ground here are smarter than the angry, anti-American image our leaders want us to believe. No surprise here. Think “Matrix”…It’s an illusion to keep you in your place and to keep you from realizing that we are ALL getting screwed. Fight the power!

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Now playing: Free Drinks – Sound Of The Came (Groove Salad from SomaFM [aacPlus] [SomaFM])
via FoxyTunes

travel

Unfortunately we are not going to be able to make a trip to Petra. It’s a 2+ hour drive from here and the tours are only on Tuesdays and Fridays (it’s past Tuesday and we leave Friday morning). Today we took a drive through Amman and to the Dead Sea. We made it about a quarter of the way there before the driver mentioned that we might need our passports to get past the two military check points along the way (none of us did so we had to drive back to the hotel). This gave me some extra time clicking pictures from the car window.

About half of the drive is through the city and then you hit a more “rural”/barren landscape with occasional houses and signs of much development to come. The temperature gradually increases as you get closer to the Dead Sea.

Like many Westernizing countries billboards are everywhere and the religion of consumption and capitalism is strong. Here’s a sign for water, a big commodity here, which is, however, a refreshing site while driving in 100 degree weather with no air conditioning…but still sad to see the comodification of such an essential element to life and where most people don’t have the access to decent paying jobs.

To get to the shores of the Dead Sea you have to go through one of the newly developing hotels (which means you have to pay). The one we went through is the MovenPick (two little dots over the “o”). It looks like a nice place to stay with more of a Spanish influence than Middle Eastern it seems.

Wading in the Dead Sea is amazing. You can stand in the water, without touching the bottom, and you will only sink as far as mid-way up to your chest. You really have to work to get your shoulders under before immediately bobbing up. The easiest position is to lay flat on your back with your hands behind your head. In this position you are basically lying on top of the water. May be this is where the whole Jesus walking on water comes from. May be the sea was just that more saturated with salt and it could actually support a man’s body wait. It’s really a cool excursion if you are ever in the area.

travel

This is my fiance’s aunt’s husband (whatever you call that) telling us about how the U.S. Marines smashed in all the doors in their Baghdad home and destroyed everything inside (smashing pictures from the walls, slicing open mattresses, and generally breaking things. The next day they apparently returned a computer, CDs and their daughter’s legal books (she’s an attorney…was)…but they kept the 1930s American revolver they “found”. Yeah stealing -sarcasm-. A short time after that they found a notice on their property stating that “the occupants must vacant immediately and if they return they will be killed.” Go liberty and freedom! -more sarcasm- I guess BushCo wants to rid the entire country of its educated masses and just leave all the lowlife fundamentalists to destroy the rest of the country. Yeah America! -even more sarcasm- Now Iraq can look just like Bush’s America…ignorant, fundamentalist, and violent as all hell.

travel

“Our flight is being delayed because we have located baggage on board that belongs to a passenger who did not make the flight.” -foreshadow-

The flight to Amman, Jordan was lonely yet awesome. Lonely because I did not get to sit with me sweetie but awesome because I got upgraded to Business Class. Where is Business Class you ask? Well, it’s those seats in the very front of the plane where you are immediately greeted with water, orange juice or champagne. It’s that place where you can consume as much wine as you can, you are served steak, are given bottles of water whenever you wish, served mixed nuts in a glass dish, drink out of real glasses, get all the HBO and other programming on your own personal screen for free, free video games, and a chair that fully reclines and does everything in-between. Yes, it’s one amazing place. My first time, too. Wow, I don’t know if I can ever go back to coach?! Please, no one tell me what the cost of one of these seats is because I’m sure I’ll never be able to afford it. Anyway…it was a cool experience for a 10+ hour flight. Oh, did I mention breakfast before landing? (eggs, bagel and cream cheese, juice, fruit, and other beverages).

The only thing that would have made this flight better would be if my fucking luggage had come with me. Remember that opening sentence? Well, I’m guessing the geniuses at Delta did the ol’ “don’t ask the passenger seat switcheroo” and when I boarded with my new pass from Delta they figured, “Hey Noah didn’t show up we gotta take his baggage off.” Fuck you, Delta! Tomorrow will be my third day without luggage. All I hear here is that the Amman airport is notorious for “losing” luggage in these types of situations. Great, thanks Delta.

But all is not bad. I’ve been having a wonderful time and got in about 3 hours of interviews today with our Iraqi hosts. While most of the speaking is in Arabic, which I don’t understand, my future father-in-law was there to help with recaps so that I could get a feel for how answers where given. But for much of it I could understand what was at the heart of the words just by listening and looking into the eyes of these women. It’s really bad situation and I really hope that Bush and his Crew pay in a real way for all the harm they have done the Iraqi people and the world. I feel shame as an American.

Amman is truly a city built for driving. What little sidewalk space there is people still walk in the street. And the only way to get into many businesses and such is to drive into small front parking lots (no sidewalks really connect much of these city businesses). The streets are crazy dangerous to boot, as there are only faint to non-existent lane lines and people pretty much drive where ever they wish. May be some other parts of the city are different but so far this is all I’ve seen and it’s nuts.

I’ll post more on my audio work as soon as I can. But in the mean time here’s a sample of some sounds from outside our hotel room window. It is of one of the nightly weddings they are having here at the Marriott. Pictures will be coming shortly as well. Peace! Noah…

(note: the audio is very raw and some noticeable handling noise but you get the picture.)

http://www.hellasolutions.com/stuff/080622 Marriott Wedding Music clip.mp3

travel

There’s nothing like working full time for a state bureaucracy to push you to do other things. I’ve been spending most of my time lately sitting in a cube working a job to pay the bills. Yes, a necessary evil for most of us at one time or another. Well it’s not all bad, one project is getting off the ground and that’s my contributing to a new blog called “Imagine 2050“. It’s a very interesting project looking at what it means to be American (with a focus on the projected demographic change in the U.S. from predominately white to…well…not). I’ll be posting audio pieces once or twice per month. This month is just a simple “podcast” style program I threw together. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Another exciting event is, this Saturday I will be traveling to Jordan and then to Egypt. I’ll be with my future in-laws who are Iraqi but who have been living in the States for about 40 years. My finance’s aunt stayed in Iraq, but not so long ago she was forced to relocate to Jordan while the U.S. spreads freedom and liberty in her country -sarcasm-. I’m hoping to get some good audio during the trip but in the least it is going to be an amazing experience.

audio documentary, travel

Hey BBQ fans, I want to turn you on to a new BBQ joint that has opened in Berkeley, California called Looney’s BBQ! It’s authentic smoked meats, sauces, sides and desserts are almost perfect. The servings are huge and the staff as hospitable as the south can be (but in California). Truly, I know you don’t know me from the next blogger saying how good something is but really…check this place out when you are in Northern California…you won’t regret it.

on the web: http://www.looneysbbq.com/

California Restaurants

Travel tips: screw Avis car rentals. WAY overpriced! I’m not a big pusher of corporations but then when treated well…why not. I’ve been using Enterprise rental cars for most of my travel needs while working on the SisterLove project and they are awesome. The customer service is great (very friendly, quick, and always give me more than I request – i.e. upgrading cars) and their prices are the best I’ve seen. So, in my book the two deserve some kudos as most companies don’t give a shit for the customer these days. And Enterprise is a major sponsor of the PBR (a little known interest of mine heheh). Okay, that’s my push for the evening.

Today was my first day in Atlanta doing my pickups for my project and to my surprise I was able to complete almost ALL of my interviews in one LONG day. I’m quite worried as it all worked so easily . I had allotted about 5 days to do all this. I did about 9 interviews (small interviews with each staff member and a central interview with one of SL’s first clients and one of their main client-turned-advocate. Her interview is to show the empowerment aspect of SL’s work and I’m very pleased with the interview). I’m using the rest of my time here to get some time with board members of SisterLove and one big event that they are sponsoring toward the end of the week.

I’ll also be visiting local music stores to find some strong local (ATL) music to use in the Atlanta module of the project (the South African piece has got some very nice tunes and I’d like to have an equal representation from here).

travel

In my final hours in South Africa I figured it would be time to give my 2 cents on the places I stayed. Staying with friends is always great and I must thank Dorothy and her family for the wonderful time, the chance to cook my first South African braai and for all the good vibes. I stayed in three other places as well – the Protea Witbank hotel, the Bonni Bella guest house (bed & breakfast) and the Ackee guest house (b&b).

The Bonni Bella was the first place we stayed at and one we went back for one more night (actually, we would have stayed another night but the service wasn’t appealing). This place is clean, has a good meeting room, decent food and some cool nooks to sit and read. The draw backs are that there is no wireless Internet, not being able to get your own key to the front gate in the evening limits your evening plans and the tap water runs brown at times. The biggest turn off was that we felt that the owner was nickel-and-diming us. We were initially quoted a certain price and that changed and then we were informed that the cost of breakfast would be additional. Therefore, the cost per night was very close to the Protea hotel and surpassed the Ackee guest house (both of which offer far more amenities). I would recommend getting a quote in writing if you plan on staying here and make sure food is included. It’s a decent enough place but the owner, mainly, needs to work on her customer service a bit.

The Protea Witbank is one of the older hotels in the Protea family (a very large chain in SA and Africa). This is a basic hotel but it does have a decent bar, a good buffet, and wireless Internet (R$90./2 hours). If you don’t mind the older hotel look and feel I would recommend this place over the Bonni Bella. However, there are plenty of other guests houses for those, like myself, that really don’t like hotels (but I can’t comment on any of those).

The final and BEST place (cost, services and space) I stayed was the Ackee guest house in Victory Park, Johannesburg. Folami, the owner, has created a very warm, calm and relaxing place to stay. The front yard has a large parking area with garage space as well. There are lots of plants and trees and a flowing fountain as you walk to the front of her house. The backyard has a clean pool, bathroom/changing room, lots of grass to lounge on, an organic garden surrounds the yard, and a covered outside bar area is perfect for early evening drinks. Oh, did I mention there is free wireless access? Yup, there is! There is an 8 person dinning area, a large sun room (solarium?) and a comfortable living room with a stereo, flat panel telelvision, DVD/VHS player and a wood burning stove for the colder months. There are four bedrooms that can hold 6 people. The master bedroom has lots of beautiful natural light pouring in during the day and the bathroom is very clean and modern. The other bedrooms are also very comfortable but just a bit smaller and share and bathroom (however, it is split into two rooms – one for the loo and one for the shower. There is also a study/office connected to the bedroom area. This is all on the upstairs floor as the owner lives downstairs. Another touch that makes this place so appealing is that owner Folami has placed beautiful art work and African nick-nacks in well-placed yet random places all around the house and grounds. Also placed around the house are enlightening affirmations. I highly recommend the Ackee guest house! To get more information you can contact Folami by email at: ackee@telkomsa.net.

Here are a few photos from Ackee:

hotels