Ruby Loves Adventure

Posting so everyone could see photos that I took using my Sony H20 while on vacation in DC.
The Smithsonian National Zoo is free to go to - they have a wide variety of animals there, and they are very, very well cared for. The zoo also acts as a research area as well.

The zoo is on the red line, you can go down at the zoo stop. In our case, the hotel we are staying in was just a mile away from the zoo (around 1.6+ KMs) so we took a leisurely walk through the Adams-Morgan neighborhood. Although we only spent a total of 3 hours at the zoo (spent the time there while waiting for us to be checked in our room at the Normandy), it was definitely not enough. I'll definitely go back here on my next DC trip - whenever that would be. :)

Enjoy the photos, but if you plan to use them commercially, please let me know and don't just steal them!

Mommy Panda munching on some bamboo

Asian Elephant

Duckie

Look, it's Timon!

Peekaboo I see you!!

Cuteeee!

Magilla Gorilla - amazing how they're like humans

Galapagos tortoise - can't wait to see you in the wild!

Another one of those bloggers that I've been following for a while. Finishing the Tim Ferris book and moving on to another non fiction, I picked this up from the library on a whim as I was looking for another book to read.

Suprisingly, I was very disappointed as soon as I read the last page of the book. Here, I thought it would be like a very inspiring book about how to not conform but some of the points in his book don't apply to me and my life choices, and most of it just revolves around him.

Sure, there's some points that I like about his book, but in total, 99% of what is in the book was just a repetition of his experiences, and 1% was where you can get to reflect on your own life choices. Hmmm bad ratio, if you ask me.
Like, how many times do you have to say your story about how you went to Africa because you read about this doctor who gave up his practice in California to live on a ship and help those in war torn African countries? He practically related the story like 5 times in the book.

What I also liked was there were loads of feedback from other book authors whose titles I may just check out after my non-fiction pile to read is done.

I won't stop reading Chris Guillebeau's blog - that is still very inspiring, but I would just recommend anyone who would want to pick up this book to just borrow it from your library (which I did, thankfully) and not waste precious $$$ on it. You could get most of the content free on his website anyway - www.chrisguillebeau.com/3x5

Book borrowed from: Jacksonville Public Library
Rating: 1.5/5

“John L’Heureux has built a gripping story of love, genius and betrayal.”

--JM Coetzee, Nobel Prize for Literature, Booker Prize Winner

“Deeply enjoyable, The Medici Boy soars like an operatic aria, before breaking our hearts.”

--David Henry Hwang, playwright, M. Butterfly, Chinglish

“L’Heureux’s is certainly one of America’s greatest living writers. I’d put him in the top ten...And now he’s come out with his first new novel in ten years, The Medici Boy, and it’s a masterpiece, the most ambitious, beautiful, and complex novel I’ve read this year…”

--David Vann, Financial Times of London

Astor + Blue Editions is proud to release perhaps the most passionate work of master storyteller, John L’Heureux, in The Medici Boy [ISBN:  978-1-938231-50-6 (Hard Cover); ISBN: 978-1-938231-48-3 (E-book); US $25.95; Historical / Literary Fiction; 346 Pages, April, 2014].  Described as “one of America’s greatest living writers” by the Financial Times of London, L’Heureux returns with a long-awaited new historical fiction novel; the result of years of research—backed by a Guggenheim Grant—on location in Europe.

In this well-conceived, historically accurate rendering, the Renaissance worlds of art, politics and passion collide. With his distinct style and rich, sinewy narrative, L’Heureux ingeniously transports the reader to Donatello’s Renaissance Italy—directly into his bottega, (workshop), as witnessed through the eyes of Luca Mattei, a devoted assistant.

While creating his famous bronze of David and Goliath, Donatello’s passion for his enormously beautiful model and part time rent boy, Agnolo, ignites a dangerous jealousy that ultimately leads to murder. Luca, the complex and conflicted assistant, will sacrifice all to save Donatello, even his master’s friend—the great patron of art, Cosimo de’ Medici.

John L’Heureux’s long-awaited hardcover delivers both a monumental and intimate narrative of the creative genius, Donatello, at the height of his powers. With incisive detail, L’Heureux artfully renders the master sculptor’s forbidden homosexual passions, and the artistry that enthralled the leading—and competing—powerbrokers of Renaissance Florence: the Medici and Albizzi families. The finished work is a sumptuously detailed narrative that entertains while it delves deeply into both the sacred and the profane within one of the Italian Renaissance’s most consequential cities, fifteenth century Florence.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Award-winning poet, novelist, and short story writer, John L’Heureux has taught at Georgetown University, Tufts, Harvard, and (for more than 35 years) in the English Department of Stanford University where he was Lane Professor of Humanities.  There he received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and earned it again in 1998.

A prolific writer, L’Heureux has written more than twenty books of fiction, short fiction and poetry.  His works have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Harper’s, The New Yorker, and have been included in dozens of anthologies including Best American Stories and Prize Stories: the O. Henry Awards.

John L’Heureux has twice received writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2006 he was awarded a Guggenheim Grant to do research for The Medici Boy, his new novel.

He is retired and lives in Palo Alto with his wife Joan.

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You can check out the cinematic book trailer in the link below:

http://youtu.be/cqY4isZMjlI

 
 Also, this book has got some press from the Washington Post: 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-world-the-medici-boy-by-john-lheureux/2014/05/04/82984268-cf1c-11e3-a6b1-45c4dffb85a6_story.html?wprss=rss_entertainment

Do check it out when you can! 

I picked up this book on a whim from the library. It was finance week and it was one of the featured finance books. I first looked at the book and noticed Ali Velshi - he hosted a CNN business show way back when I was living in Manila and I used to watch said business show everyday.

What can I say about this book? Not much. I read it within a week, it was quite thin at around 170+ pages. It was full of tips on how to speak money with your partners, how to prepare for university/college, how to manage your portfolio (invest, invest, invest) and prepare for retirement.

The beach - although you can't swim there

Travel, for me, is a drug that keeps me moving. It keeps my mind sharp and alert - by making me want to explore more, find more places (which the internet had made it very easy to do), and just know more.

In this post, I focus on Cumberland Island National Seashore. I initially learned about this place from a colleague of mine when I first moved to America. However, he did not say there was a tour. My persistent research showed me to this website:
http://www.nps.gov/cuis/index.htm

**More after the jump -- click on the title link to get to the full post**