diff --git a/content/about/_index.md b/content/about/_index.md
index b074abe..d097334 100644
--- a/content/about/_index.md
+++ b/content/about/_index.md
@@ -12,6 +12,6 @@ I like slow travel and learning about new cultures, and have previously lived in
I enjoy (think, read about, use or practice) in no particular order: yoga, [Emacs](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/), [veganism](https://howdoigovegan.com), tinkering, geopolitics, education, and [Free Software](https://fsf.org) (yes, Emacs is Free Software, but it deserves a separate entry).
-This is what I’m doing [Now](../now)
+This is what I’m doing [Now](../now).
[Say hello](mailto:marcel@vegancambodia.com), I always like to meet new people.
diff --git a/content/archives/2023-07-01.md b/content/archives/2023-07-01.md
index 990aa87..e42620a 100644
--- a/content/archives/2023-07-01.md
+++ b/content/archives/2023-07-01.md
@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@ summary: "Fingerprinting as fashion. On enabling useless and potentially harmful
tags: ["technology", "dystopia"]
categories: ["Technology"]
---
-I arrived at the gym a few weeks ago to notice they were removing the key locks from the lockers and replacing them with some sort of RFID bracelet technology. I chuckled, because this is exactly what I feel is wrong with technolgoy: They replaced a low maintenance time-tested technology (lock and key), with a high-maintenance untested fad consisting of many more moving parts. For starters, each locker now requires a regular battery change. I didn’t open the battery compartment, but it looks like it takes triple A’s.
+I arrived at the gym a few weeks ago to notice they were removing the key locks from the lockers and replacing them with some sort of RFID bracelet technology. I chuckled, because this is exactly what I feel is wrong with technolgoy: They replaced a low maintenance time-tested technology (lock and key), with a high-maintenance untested fad consisting of many more moving parts. For starters, each locker now requires a regular battery change. I didn’t open the battery compartment, but it looks like they take triple A’s.
-To be fair with the management, the new technology did solve the perennial problem caused by whatever sequential (FIFO?) system they were using to distribute keys to people as they walked in, and which caused congestion at specific areas of the locker room while leaving the rest of the space completely unused. The digital bracelets can lock any locker, allowing members to choose for themselves. I can think of simpler ways of fixing that problem.
+To be fair with the management, the new technology did solve the perennial problem caused by whatever sequential (FIFO?) system they were using to distribute keys to people as they walked in, and which caused congestion at specific areas of the locker room while leaving the rest of the space completely unused. The digital bracelets can lock any locker, allowing members to choose for themselves. I can think of simpler ways of fixing that problem though.
-A week or so later, I walked into the lobby and noticed they were changing the check-in system, which consisted of an RFID enabled member card scanned on entry, to what appeared to be fingerprint scanners. Bad news, I thought. Sure enough, within a few days the new system was up, and I was asked to scan my finger and get a new membership card to continue using the facilities. I informed them I would not provide my biometrics to enter a gym (or any place for that matter). The only exception being entering and leaving countries and other mandatory government initiatives where I have no choice.
+A week or so later, I walked into the lobby and noticed they were changing the check-in system, which consisted of an RFID enabled member card scanned on entry, to what appeared to be fingerprint scanners. Bad news, I thought. Sure enough, within a few days the new system was up, and I was asked to scan my finger and get a new membership card to continue using the facilities. I informed them I would not provide my biometrics to enter a gym (or any place for that matter). The only exception being entering and leaving countries and other mandatory government initiatives where I feel I have no choice.
Why do I have a problem with biometrics enabled doors? It makes me feel we’re ushering in a dystopian future we will regret. I see a future where, cheaply and on a massive scale, every door will open (or not) based on each individual: "Sorry citizen, this a ‘Class A‘ facility. Based on your socioeconomic profile and psychometric tests (or social credit score?) you are ranked ‘Class B-’. Please step aside."
diff --git a/content/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02.md b/content/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02.md
index 176f697..4066624 100644
--- a/content/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02.md
+++ b/content/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02.md
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ Talking of veganism, there's a new vegan restaurant in town. This is big news, a
The place is called Sundays (yeah, we went on a Saturday, I know) and is run by Darren and Tam, a charming Aussie-Khmer and British couple. It has a beautiful loft style interior with Japanese and Thai accents and a skateboarder ethos. Colorful lithographs by various Thai and Chinese artists line the walls, with some skateboard wall art. A spiral staircase leads to a mezzanine lounge featuring bespoke wooden lounge furniture and a neon sign at the back that reads ‘Take It Easy.’ The design showcases a spacious and inviting open kitchen, high ceilings and, large windows, letting in plenty of light downstairs and making the place feel airy.
-Forgive me for starting with dessert, but I've never been one for rules. They have vegan waffles! I hadn't had a waffle for a while. In fact, I've had two waffles in the almost four years since I became vegan (largely because we were stuck in Cambodia for three of those years, without Sundays). I had a waffle once at Wai Nam Beach resort in Koh Pha Ngan last year and another at [Veganerie](https://www.veganerie.co.th), in Bangkok, a few months ago. It sounds silly, I know. I could go out and buy a waffle machine, but then I'd have to own a specialized device that I would only use sporadically, and I'd rather not add another clunky machine to the kitchen storage. So, we shared a tasty pandan coconut waffle with homemade, hand-churned, coconut ice cream, and it was perfect.
+Forgive me for starting with dessert, but I've never been one for rules, and they have vegan waffles! I hadn't had a waffle for a while. In fact, I've had two waffles in the almost four years since I became vegan (largely because we were stuck in Cambodia for three of those years, without Sundays). I had a waffle once at Wai Nam Beach resort in Koh Pha Ngan last year and another at [Veganerie](https://www.veganerie.co.th), in Bangkok, a few months ago. It sounds silly, I know. I could go out and buy a waffle machine, but then I'd have to own a specialized device that I would only use sporadically, and I'd rather not add another clunky machine to the kitchen. So, we shared a tasty pandan coconut waffle with homemade, hand-churned, coconut ice cream, and it was perfect.
For dinner, we had some sort of sticky cauliflower chunks, a Khmer fusion somlor korko noodle dish and a spicy tom yum club sandwich. For drinks, we had Thai bubble tea and water.
diff --git a/content/archives/2023-07-03.md b/content/archives/2023-07-03.md
index 72329ca..908d2e8 100644
--- a/content/archives/2023-07-03.md
+++ b/content/archives/2023-07-03.md
@@ -10,12 +10,12 @@ We went back to Sundays yesterday morning and tried their pancakes and the Phnom
After breakfast, my daughter J wanted to go to the pool but it looked like it was going to rain, so we decided to wait for a while. It ended up not raining, but the rest of the day the sky looked like Bear Grylls would have built a shelter. It was also cool (for Phnom Penh standards) and humid; cool weather is always welcome.
-I spent the rest of the day fiddling with the blog, reading [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/) blog, which I hadn’t visited for years, writing my own [Now](../now) page, and choosing a few pieces of furniture to buy in Thailand and ship to Cambodia when we ship the rest of our stuff here later this month.
+I spent the rest of the day fiddling with the blog, reading [Derek Sivers](https://sive.rs/) blog, which I hadn’t visited for years, writing my own [Now](../../now) page, and choosing a few pieces of furniture to buy in Thailand and ship to Cambodia when we ship the rest of our stuff here later this month.
I made humus with carrots, cucumbers and some Ciabatta bread and we had dinner watching Kiki's Delivery Service. I'm on the lookout for new movies for J. So far she's watched a few Studio Ghibli animations over and over, and a couple of nature documentaries. We tried a couple of other Studio Ghibli animations a few months back, but she said they were too scary.
-I dislike Disney, so we've avoided all of that for now. Other girls we know are obsessed with princesses. Since it’s impossible to avoid all the Disney propaganda, J likes them but at least she’s is not obsessed. She knows I don't like them, and from time to time asks me to explain why that's the case. I tell her I find regular people more interesting and affable, and I tell her we should like people for who they are and what they do, rather than because we’re told or taught to like them. She says she understands, but she still likes princesses, because it's fun.
+I dislike Disney, so we've avoided all of that for now. Other girls we know are obsessed with princesses. Since it’s impossible to avoid all the Disney propaganda, J likes them but at least she’s is not obsessed. She knows I don't like them, and from time to time asks me to explain why. I tell her I find regular people more interesting and affable, and I tell her we should like people for who they are and what they do, rather than because we’re told or taught to like them. She says she understands, but she still likes princesses, because it's fun.
-Changing topics, I finally decided to buy a ticket to Thailand yesterday night. I'm flying on Tuesday morning and will spend most of the time packing at the farm. I found some clarity during the 12 day silent meditation retreat a few weeks ago, and decided we should simplify. When I got back, N was on board with the idea. I’ll go pack first and then she’ll go sell things and hire the moving company. I’m looking forward to rediscovering things I’ve forgotten about.
+Changing topics, I finally decided to buy a ticket to Thailand yesterday night. I'm flying on Tuesday morning and will spend most of the time packing at the farm. I found some clarity during the 12 day silent meditation retreat a few weeks ago, and decided we should simplify. When I got back, N was on board with the idea. I’ll go to pack first and then she’ll go to sell things and arrange the move. I’m looking forward to rediscovering things I’ve forgotten we have.
I was afraid to buy a one-way ticket because I've heard countries have become more strict about return tickets after the apocalypse, and I didn't want to have to buy a return ticket in a rush at the counter. If I finish packing early, I'll spend a few days hanging out in Bangkok. If I don't finish on time, I'll buy a new ticket. I'm lazy about the task ahead, but excited to consolidate and simplify.
diff --git a/content/archives/2023-07-04.md b/content/archives/2023-07-04.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01402b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/content/archives/2023-07-04.md
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+---
+title: "Arrived in Thailand"
+date: 2023-07-04
+description: "Trip to Thailand"
+summary: "Coincidentally traveled with a friend. Had my measuring tape confiscated. Made it through in one piece."
+tags: ["travel", "bureaucracy"]
+categories: ["Travel"]
+---
+I messaged a friend last night to give him some duplicate books I had for his daughter. He told me he was taking the morning flight to Thailand. It turned out to be the same flight. We almost took a taxi to the airport together, but he’s much more laid back than I am, and wanted to leave home much later than me. We met at the airport and traveled together, and it was fun.
+
+At check-in, the counter guy informed me the carry-on limit was 7kg. He weighed the bag and it was 10kg so he asked me to check it in. I told him the last time I did so they broke the wheels on an identical bag, so he had me open the bags and shift stuff into my backpack until the carry-on was 7kg. In spite of the worldwide bureaucracy, at least in Cambodia people seem to be more flexible. It reminds me a bit of India in that sense.
+
+They confiscated my measuring tape at the x-ray machine. The guy pulled-out 20 cm or so and mimicked cutting someone’s head off with it. In a mission impossible movie, maybe. I guess I could have sharpened or serrated the edge for the task. Meanwhile, I decided to take a pack of double edge razor blades with me because I didn’t know where I would find them here and didn’t want to buy a disposable plastic razor I would have to toss in the trash at the end of the trip. I figured if they complained I would toss them out. The razor blades made it through without a glitch. The Stanley measuring tape I lugged around the world for the past 15 or 20 years is gone. At least they don’t make you take your shoes off at that airport.
+
+The security guy said I could go back downstairs and check it in as luggage, but I thought the airline would probably want to charge for a checked-in bag, and I was lazy to navigate security backwards through immigration and to the check-in counter, and then wait for it to come out of the conveyor belt in Bangkok. I asked him if he could keep it for me and I could pick it up on the way back. He called his supervisor and his supervisor said no. A few years ago I forgot an Opinel knife in the hand luggage and the security guy was nice enough to give me his phone number and keep it for me, so I could send someone to pick it up. Maybe their SOP’s post-apocalypse have become stricter.
+
+My plans to threaten to measure the pilot unless he flew me to Mogadishu were thus thwarted, and I had to settle for a trip to Thailand instead. I hope, at least, that the security officer will receive a promotion for his excellent x-ray analysis skills. It’s nice to think I didn’t lose the measuring tape to no purpose. I’ll have to find another measuring tape tomorrow morning to measure the furniture for logistics and customs. I’d rather not buy a new one because I don’t know if the Thai x-ray crew would also confiscate the measuring tape on the way back. On second thought, I suppose I could always pack it and ship it back.
+
+I went for a swim after I arrived. Decided to read my book outside because the weather was nice, but after a few minutes the eye gnats had found me and started bother me, flying around my eyes. Eye gnats are one of the things I’ve never liked about this area. Even an intensive 12-day Vipassana course didn’t help me become tolerant to them. I’m inside in the aircon now, looking out at the view from the window as I write this. There’s one eye gnat and one house fly keeping me company. As the room cools down, they become less bothersome.
diff --git a/content/archives/2023-07-09.md b/content/archives/2023-07-09.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87d8218
--- /dev/null
+++ b/content/archives/2023-07-09.md
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+---
+title: "Half Way Mark"
+date: 2023-07-09
+description: "Half way mark"
+summary: "Packing has been hard, but rewarding work. Time for a break tomorrow. Five more days to go."
+tags: ["travel", "letting go"]
+categories: ["Travel"]
+---
+It’s been a packing marathon. I wake up at 6:30am get dressed, have breakfast, drive 40 km to the house I’m packing, then come home at 6:30pm, have dinner, take a shower, relax, and go to sleep. Today was day 5. I think I’m about 70% done with packing. My hands hurt. My lips are badly chapped for some reason; I probably haven’t been drinking enough water.
+
+I’m taking a break from packing tomorrow to go shopping for furniture. I also plan to stop at The Body Shop to see if they sell a vegan lip balm. Yesterday evening, I stopped at my friend’s house and bought a small bottle of hand cold pressed coconut oil that she makes, but it doesn’t seem to be helping enough. It’s so hot here that the oil is too runny.
+
+I had to clean all the white Ikea furniture, which was infested with some sort of superficial mold or fungus. I managed to get most of it out and was thinking that the furniture was quite durable. Then I went to inspect the old teak furniture, and it didn’t even need much cleaning. It’s been around for at least 50 years, and it looks like it will be around 50 years from now. The Ikea furniture on the other hand, maybe a few more years, but we’ll see how sturdy it feels when I reassemble it in Cambodia in a couple of weeks.
+
+I had a friend come to help me for two days, which has been a real blessing. The other three days I spent alone, in silence. I enjoyed that as well.
+
+The Asoke (Saraca indica) trees I planted behind the house almost a decade ago are finally giving nice shade. Someone chopped down the Cacao trees I planted on the south side, which is a shame, but it’s time to let go of that house anyway.
+
+I haven’t had a chance to see much else. I plan to go visit a young rubber plantation where I saw a couple of hundred trees being exploited a year ago. The last time I visited a few months ago they were still being exploited despite me telling the person in charge to make sure it was stopped. I also want to see how the young forest we planted a few years ago is doing. Last time I was not terribly impressed. Out of the five thousand or so tropical trees we planted I doubt even half survived. I also tend to be impatient. These are slow growing trees, so there’s not too much to see yet.
+
+There’s another area with trees that are almost a decade old, and they look quite impressive. Forestry and agriculture have very shallow learning curves in my experience. Trying to make a farm is a white elephant. I’m tempted to plant more trees every year, but don’t want to spend more money on it. We might fill up the areas where trees died with fast-growing leguminous trees in a couple of years.
+
+I haven’t seen any poisonous or dangerous animals this time, but I’ve been indoors almost all day, every day. I saw a scorpion and a juvenile giant centipede (Scolopendra gigantea) when I went out to a storage room and moved things around. Giant centipedes always give me the creeps (fun fact: they can live up to ten years). Stings from scorpions here are not as bad as giant centipedes (described by some as the most painful thing you can experience, which fortunately I have never experienced). I was bitten by a scorpion in the back once while sleeping and the pain was sharp but tolerable, and once on a finger joint and the pain was severe enough to take painkillers and sleep it off all day. N was bitten once in her sleep: She woke up, crushed the scorpion with her slipper and went back to sleep. Higher pain tolerance, less severe allergic reaction, both?
+
+If I can finish packing by Wednesday evening, I’ll go spend a couple of nights in Bangkok. Otherwise, I’ll stay the rest of the time here. Time for bed. Another early start tomorrow morning.
+
+Something to keep in mind for the future: close old chapters properly before starting new chapters.
diff --git a/content/archives/2023-07-11/2023-07-11-rain.jpg b/content/archives/2023-07-11/2023-07-11-rain.jpg
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diff --git a/content/archives/2023-07-11/2023-07-11.md b/content/archives/2023-07-11/2023-07-11.md
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+++ b/content/archives/2023-07-11/2023-07-11.md
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+---
+title: "Shopping and more packing"
+date: 2023-07-11
+description: "A full day at IKEA and another day of packing."
+summary: "After a day of shoping for furniture, I'm back to packing. Snapped a photo of a menacing looking sky before the storm."
+tags: ["shopping", "globocap"]
+categories: ["Shopping"]
+---
+
+
+I spent all day yesterday shopping at IKEA, and it was more tiring than the days I’ve spent packing. As much as I dislike supranational companies, I managed to buy everything I wanted, which would have been impossible without IKEA.
+
+Nowadays, pretty much every time I go to someone’s house I feel a sense of displaced familiarity; I’ll see my kettle, or my chair or my cabinet and feel a sense of superficial connection. It’s familiar because I live with the same items, it’s displaced because there’s nothing cultural that ties me to these items except the omnipresence of the corporation.
+
+Today I finally finished packing things in boxes. All that’s left is to pack the larger items and furniture with bubble wrap, cardboard and plastic wrap and to plastic wrap all the boxes. Fortunately, my friend is coming to help again tomorrow, and I’m hoping we’ll finish in one day, but I have a feeling it’s going to take at least two days, or three.
+
+I heard thunder earlier today, went outside to take a look, and snapped a photo of the sky just before a massive storm. I was lucky we didn’t have a storm yesterday on the way back from IKEA or the furniture I bought might have been ruined. We covered the bed of the truck with a plastic tarp, but it was not completely watertight. I’m not sure if it would have kept the water out.
diff --git a/content/now/_index.md b/content/now/_index.md
index a5300e9..c38b8da 100644
--- a/content/now/_index.md
+++ b/content/now/_index.md
@@ -20,21 +20,21 @@ My daughter is unschooled. I like to help her follow her interests, so this is a
### {{< icon "forward" >}} Moving
-We’ll be moving houses to a new place close by in a couple of weeks.
+We’ll be moving to a house close by in a couple of weeks.
### {{< icon "truck" >}} Packing stuff in Thailand
-I’ll be in Thailand, packing a full house worth of stuff we left there more than 5 years ago. Some things have been unopened for the best part of a decade, since they were shipped from Mexico.
+I’ll be in Thailand, packing a house full of stuff we left there more than 5 years ago. Some things have been unopened for the best part of a decade, since they were shipped from Mexico. The apocalypse turned two years to five in the blink of an eye.
### {{< icon "user-add" >}} Mom’s visit
-My mom will be coming to visit from Mexico later this year and will be staying with us for an extended period. We haven’t seen each other for more than 5 years and she’s never met my daughter. I have few things to prepare for her visit.
+My mom will be coming to visit from Mexico later this year and will be staying with us for an extended period. We haven’t seen each other for more than 5 years and she’s never met my daughter. I have a few things to prepare for her visit.
## {{< icon "cog" >}} Business
---
-### {{< icon "clipboard-check" >}} Company organization, BAD & collateral, back of house
+### {{< icon "clipboard-check" >}} Company organization, BD & collateral, back of house
-These next months I’ll be focusing on our Kr's, online business development, SOP’s, hiring, training, and supervising new staff.
+These next months I’ll be focusing on our KPR’s, online business development, SOP’s, hiring, training, and supervising new staff.
## {{< icon "user" >}} Personal
---
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ I exercise at the gym 5 or 6 times per week. Some days I do yoga, some days weig
### {{< icon "newspaper" >}} Blog
-Making it a habit to write posts for this blog.
+I’m making it a habit to write posts for this blog.
### {{< icon "book" >}} Books
@@ -62,33 +62,34 @@ Currently Reading or Working With
- **The 4 Disciplines of Execution** by McPherson et al.
- - Reading this as a sequel to Christina Vodka's Radical Focus, which I enjoyed.
+ - Reading this as a sequel to Christina Wodtke's Radical Focus, which I enjoyed.
-- **The Unschooled Unmans** by John Holt
+- **The Unschooled Unmannual** by John Holt
- - Interesting observations on the way children.
+ - Interesting observations on the way children learn.
{{< badge >}}
Recently Finished
{{< /badge >}}
-- **The Art of Living** by S. N. Gonks
- - I Read this as a preparation for a 10 (12 actually) day silent meditation retreat. Interesting book. Interesting retreat. Somewhat cultist, but gave me interesting takeaways. The book by itself may not be very interesting without the retreat.
+- **The Art of Living** by S. N. Goenka
+ - I Read this as a preparation for a 10 (12 actually) day silent meditation retreat. Interesting book. Interesting retreat. Somewhat cultist, but gave me interesting takeaways. The book by itself may not be interesting without the retreat.
- **On Being a Teacher** by Jonathan Kozol
- Pleasingly subversive reading. Although the target readership are teachers, it was a worthwhile book to read as a parent with an unschooled child as well.
- **Tools for Conviviality** by Ivan Illich
- - A very thought-provoking book. Read it for the second time as I thought I needed a refresher.
+ - A thought-provoking book. Read it for the second time as I thought I needed a refresher.
- **How Children Learn** by John Holt
- Interesting read.
- **Patria 1** by Paco Ignacio Taibo II
- - Mexican mid 19th century history by a left wing intellectual. A very interesting read and part 1 of a 3 part series.
+ - Mexican mid 19th century history by a left wing intellectual. An interesting read and part one of a three part series.
- **Chants of a Lifetime: Searching for a Heart of Gold** by Krishna Das
- I love to listen to his chants. The book did not disappoint. Krishna Das is a man of true devotion.
+
- **Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita** by Ram Dass
- I have a nuanced relationship with the thoughts of Ram Dass. Interesting guy. We don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but I enjoy reading him. His thoughts on vegetarianism on this book are disappointing, to put it mildly.
diff --git a/public/about/index.html b/public/about/index.html
index 902e454..bdcd9d3 100644
--- a/public/about/index.html
+++ b/public/about/index.html
@@ -257,10 +257,32 @@
Hi! My name is Marcel. I’m married, have one daughter, and run a construction consultancy and stamped concrete contracting business in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
-
I like traveling and have previously lived in Mexico, the US, Argentina, and Thailand.
-
I enjoy (think, read about, use or practice) in no particular order: yoga, Emacs, veganism, tinkering, geopolitics, education, and Free Software.
+
I like slow travel and learning about new cultures, and have previously lived in Mexico, the US, Argentina, and Thailand, and spent long periods backpacking through India and Nepal.
+
I enjoy (think, read about, use or practice) in no particular order: yoga, Emacs, veganism, tinkering, geopolitics, education, and Free Software (yes, Emacs is Free Software, but it deserves a separate entry).
diff --git a/public/about/marcel2.jpg b/public/about/marcel2.jpg
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diff --git a/public/archives/2023-06-30/2023-06-30/index.html b/public/archives/2023-06-30/2023-06-30/index.html
index 677ee9d..31a437e 100644
--- a/public/archives/2023-06-30/2023-06-30/index.html
+++ b/public/archives/2023-06-30/2023-06-30/index.html
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
My First Blog Post · >mv_
-
+
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
-
+
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@
-
+
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@
- ·737 words·4 mins
+ ·740 words·4 mins
@@ -331,9 +331,9 @@
-
I arrived at the gym a few weeks ago to notice they were removing the key locks from the lockers and replacing them with some sort of RFID bracelet technology. I chuckled, because this is exactly what I feel is wrong with technolgoy: They replaced a low maintenance time-tested technology (lock and key), with a high-maintenance untested fad consisting of many more moving parts. For starters, each locker now requires a regular battery change. I didn’t open the battery compartment, but it looks like it takes triple A’s.
-
To be fair with the management, the new technology did solve the perennial problem caused by whatever sequential (FIFO?) system they were using to distribute keys to people as they walked in, and which caused congestion at specific areas of the locker room while leaving the rest of the space completely unused. The digital bracelets can lock any locker, allowing members to choose for themselves. I can think of simpler ways of fixing that problem.
-
A week or so later, I walked into the lobby and noticed they were changing the check-in system, which consisted of an RFID enabled member card scanned on entry, to what appeared to be fingerprint scanners. Bad news, I thought. Sure enough, within a few days the new system was up, and I was asked to scan my finger and get a new membership card to continue using the facilities. I informed them I would not provide my biometrics to enter a gym (or any place for that matter). The only exception being entering and leaving countries and other mandatory government initiatives where I have no choice.
+
I arrived at the gym a few weeks ago to notice they were removing the key locks from the lockers and replacing them with some sort of RFID bracelet technology. I chuckled, because this is exactly what I feel is wrong with technolgoy: They replaced a low maintenance time-tested technology (lock and key), with a high-maintenance untested fad consisting of many more moving parts. For starters, each locker now requires a regular battery change. I didn’t open the battery compartment, but it looks like they take triple A’s.
+
To be fair with the management, the new technology did solve the perennial problem caused by whatever sequential (FIFO?) system they were using to distribute keys to people as they walked in, and which caused congestion at specific areas of the locker room while leaving the rest of the space completely unused. The digital bracelets can lock any locker, allowing members to choose for themselves. I can think of simpler ways of fixing that problem though.
+
A week or so later, I walked into the lobby and noticed they were changing the check-in system, which consisted of an RFID enabled member card scanned on entry, to what appeared to be fingerprint scanners. Bad news, I thought. Sure enough, within a few days the new system was up, and I was asked to scan my finger and get a new membership card to continue using the facilities. I informed them I would not provide my biometrics to enter a gym (or any place for that matter). The only exception being entering and leaving countries and other mandatory government initiatives where I feel I have no choice.
Why do I have a problem with biometrics enabled doors? It makes me feel we’re ushering in a dystopian future we will regret. I see a future where, cheaply and on a massive scale, every door will open (or not) based on each individual: “Sorry citizen, this a ‘Class A‘ facility. Based on your socioeconomic profile and psychometric tests (or social credit score?) you are ranked ‘Class B-’. Please step aside.”
I have a problem with the data collection itself. Will this database be sold to third parties? Where are the servers located? What kind of firewall is used? This gym is one of the fanciest in town. Who would like to access member data? For what purposes?
I asked politely why they required my fingerprint in addition to the RFID enabled card (which now need not be scanned, but must be deposited at reception to receive towels and locker opening bracelet). They informed me members were sharing their cards with third parties and the owner wanted to fix the problem.
diff --git a/public/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/index.html b/public/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/index.html
index ce39103..0957b62 100644
--- a/public/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/index.html
+++ b/public/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/index.html
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
"name": "A life-changing conversation",
"headline": "A life-changing conversation",
"description": "A short rant on veganism followed by a vegan restaurant review.",
- "abstract": "One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.",
+ "abstract": "One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.",
"inLanguage": "en",
"url" : "\/archives\/2023-07-02\/2023-07-02\/",
"author" : {
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
"keywords": ["veganism","compassion","biographical","food"],
"mainEntityOfPage": "true",
- "wordCount": "659"
+ "wordCount": "658"
}]
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@
- ·659 words·4 mins
+ ·658 words·4 mins
@@ -354,10 +354,10 @@
-
I bought the domain that I’m using —vegancambodia.com— a while ago, thinking it made sense, living in Cambodia and wanting to do something with veganism. I usually buy .org names, but thought I’d go for a .com in case we decided to make a business out of it. Well, it must be close to a year later and nothing has happened with the domain or with veganism (aside from the practice it, of course). So, let me say something about veganism then, in honor of the domain name and the unfortunate souls that may land here searching for information on veganism in Cambodia in the future.
+
I bought the domain that I’m using —vegancambodia.com— a while ago, thinking it made sense, living in Cambodia and wanting to do something with veganism. I usually buy .org names, but thought I’d go for a .com in case we decided to make a business out of it. Well, it must be close to a year later and nothing has happened with the domain or with veganism (aside from the practice of it, of course). So, let me say something about veganism then, in honor of the domain name and the unfortunate souls that may land here searching for information on veganism in Cambodia in the future.
When my wife was pregnant, I had a conversation with a friend in Penang. To explain to me how unnatural it is to eat animals, she told me how shocking it had been for her three children when they each discovered that the food they ate came from living animals that had been killed so that they could eat them. We only come to see this as natural as part of a long process of normalization.
For months, I couldn’t stop thinking about our conversation, and I kept trying to think how I would explain our eating habits to my daughter in a logical and ethical way when the time came. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory explanation for why we enslave, torture and kill other species so that we can eat them and their secretions.
-
Eventually, I had to accept that I had grown up with illogical belief system, and the only way to escape the cognitive dissonance was to ignore it or to align my actions with my ethics. This was likely the single biggest realization I had toward becoming vegan. I thank my friend Esther and my daughter for this wonderful awakening.
+
Eventually, I had to accept that I had grown up with illogical belief system, and the only way to escape the cognitive dissonance was to ignore it or to align my actions to my ethics. This was likely the single biggest realization I had toward becoming vegan. I thank my friend Esther and my daughter for this wonderful awakening.
Talking of veganism, there’s a new vegan restaurant in town. This is big news, as the count currently stands at three (including the new place), and we don’t eat at one of the three anymore for reasons I will not go into on this post.
-
The place is called Sundays (yeah, we went on a Saturday, I know) and is run by Darren and Tam, a charming Aussie-Khmer and British couple. It has a beautiful loft style interior with Japanese and Thai accents and a skateboarder ethos. Colorful lithographs by various Thai and Chinese artists line the walls, with some skateboard wall art. A spiral staircase leads to a mezzanine lounge featuring bespoke wooden lounge furniture and a neon sign at the back that reads ‘Take It Easy.’ The design showcases a spacious and inviting open kitchen and high ceilings and large windows, which let in a ton of light and make the place feel airy.
The place is called Sundays (yeah, we went on a Saturday, I know) and is run by Darren and Tam, a charming Aussie-Khmer and British couple. It has a beautiful loft style interior with Japanese and Thai accents and a skateboarder ethos. Colorful lithographs by various Thai and Chinese artists line the walls, with some skateboard wall art. A spiral staircase leads to a mezzanine lounge featuring bespoke wooden lounge furniture and a neon sign at the back that reads ‘Take It Easy.’ The design showcases a spacious and inviting open kitchen, high ceilings and, large windows, letting in plenty of light downstairs and making the place feel airy.
+
Forgive me for starting with dessert, but I’ve never been one for rules, and they have vegan waffles! I hadn’t had a waffle for a while. In fact, I’ve had two waffles in the almost four years since I became vegan (largely because we were stuck in Cambodia for three of those years, without Sundays). I had a waffle once at Wai Nam Beach resort in Koh Pha Ngan last year and another at Veganerie, in Bangkok, a few months ago. It sounds silly, I know. I could go out and buy a waffle machine, but then I’d have to own a specialized device that I would only use sporadically, and I’d rather not add another clunky machine to the kitchen storage. So, we shared a tasty pandan coconut waffle with homemade, hand-churned, coconut ice cream, and it was perfect.
+>Veganerie, in Bangkok, a few months ago. It sounds silly, I know. I could go out and buy a waffle machine, but then I’d have to own a specialized device that I would only use sporadically, and I’d rather not add another clunky machine to the kitchen. So, we shared a tasty pandan coconut waffle with homemade, hand-churned, coconut ice cream, and it was perfect.
For dinner, we had some sort of sticky cauliflower chunks, a Khmer fusion somlor korko noodle dish and a spicy tom yum club sandwich. For drinks, we had Thai bubble tea and water.
We liked the place so much we’re going back for breakfast today (on a Sunday, of course).
We went back to Sundays yesterday morning and tried their pancakes and the Phnom Penh Breakfast Bagel. Both dishes were tasty.
+
After breakfast, my daughter J wanted to go to the pool but it looked like it was going to rain, so we decided to wait for a while. It ended up not raining, but the rest of the day the sky looked like Bear Grylls would have built a shelter. It was also cool (for Phnom Penh standards) and humid; cool weather is always welcome.
+
I spent the rest of the day fiddling with the blog, reading Derek Sivers blog, which I hadn’t visited for years, writing my own Now page, and choosing a few pieces of furniture to buy in Thailand and ship to Cambodia when we ship the rest of our stuff here later this month.
+
I made humus with carrots, cucumbers and some Ciabatta bread and we had dinner watching Kiki’s Delivery Service. I’m on the lookout for new movies for J. So far she’s watched a few Studio Ghibli animations over and over, and a couple of nature documentaries. We tried a couple of other Studio Ghibli animations a few months back, but she said they were too scary.
+
I dislike Disney, so we’ve avoided all of that for now. Other girls we know are obsessed with princesses. Since it’s impossible to avoid all the Disney propaganda, J likes them but at least she’s is not obsessed. She knows I don’t like them, and from time to time asks me to explain why. I tell her I find regular people more interesting and affable, and I tell her we should like people for who they are and what they do, rather than because we’re told or taught to like them. She says she understands, but she still likes princesses, because it’s fun.
+
Changing topics, I finally decided to buy a ticket to Thailand yesterday night. I’m flying on Tuesday morning and will spend most of the time packing at the farm. I found some clarity during the 12 day silent meditation retreat a few weeks ago, and decided we should simplify. When I got back, N was on board with the idea. I’ll go to pack first and then she’ll go to sell things and arrange the move. I’m looking forward to rediscovering things I’ve forgotten we have.
+
I was afraid to buy a one-way ticket because I’ve heard countries have become more strict about return tickets after the apocalypse, and I didn’t want to have to buy a return ticket in a rush at the counter. If I finish packing early, I’ll spend a few days hanging out in Bangkok. If I don’t finish on time, I’ll buy a new ticket. I’m lazy about the task ahead, but excited to consolidate and simplify.
I messaged a friend last night to give him some duplicate books I had for his daughter. He told me he was taking the morning flight to Thailand. It turned out to be the same flight. We almost took a taxi to the airport together, but he’s much more laid back than I am, and wanted to leave home much later than me. We met at the airport and traveled together, and it was fun.
+
At check-in, the counter guy informed me the carry-on limit was 7kg. He weighed the bag and it was 10kg so he asked me to check it in. I told him the last time I did so they broke the wheels on an identical bag, so he had me open the bags and shift stuff into my backpack until the carry-on was 7kg. In spite of the worldwide bureaucracy, at least in Cambodia people seem to be more flexible. It reminds me a bit of India in that sense.
+
They confiscated my measuring tape at the x-ray machine. The guy pulled-out 20 cm or so and mimicked cutting someone’s head off with it. In a mission impossible movie, maybe. I guess I could have sharpened or serrated the edge for the task. Meanwhile, I decided to take a pack of double edge razor blades with me because I didn’t know where I would find them here and didn’t want to buy a disposable plastic razor I would have to toss in the trash at the end of the trip. I figured if they complained I would toss them out. The razor blades made it through without a glitch. The Stanley measuring tape I lugged around the world for the past 15 or 20 years is gone. At least they don’t make you take your shoes off at that airport.
+
The security guy said I could go back downstairs and check it in as luggage, but I thought the airline would probably want to charge for a checked-in bag, and I was lazy to navigate security backwards through immigration and to the check-in counter, and then wait for it to come out of the conveyor belt in Bangkok. I asked him if he could keep it for me and I could pick it up on the way back. He called his supervisor and his supervisor said no. A few years ago I forgot an Opinel knife in the hand luggage and the security guy was nice enough to give me his phone number and keep it for me, so I could send someone to pick it up. Maybe their SOP’s post-apocalypse have become stricter.
+
My plans to threaten to measure the pilot unless he flew me to Mogadishu were thus thwarted, and I had to settle for a trip to Thailand instead. I hope, at least, that the security officer will receive a promotion for his excellent x-ray analysis skills. It’s nice to think I didn’t lose the measuring tape to no purpose. I’ll have to find another measuring tape tomorrow morning to measure the furniture for logistics and customs. I’d rather not buy a new one because I don’t know if the Thai x-ray crew would also confiscate the measuring tape on the way back. On second thought, I suppose I could always pack it and ship it back.
+
I went for a swim after I arrived. Decided to read my book outside because the weather was nice, but after a few minutes the eye gnats had found me and started bother me, flying around my eyes. Eye gnats are one of the things I’ve never liked about this area. Even an intensive 12-day Vipassana course didn’t help me become tolerant to them. I’m inside in the aircon now, looking out at the view from the window as I write this. There’s one eye gnat and one house fly keeping me company. As the room cools down, they become less bothersome.
It’s been a packing marathon. I wake up at 6:30am get dressed, have breakfast, drive 40 km to the house I’m packing, then come home at 6:30pm, have dinner, take a shower, relax, and go to sleep. Today was day 5. I think I’m about 70% done with packing. My hands hurt. My lips are badly chapped for some reason; I probably haven’t been drinking enough water.
+
I’m taking a break from packing tomorrow to go shopping for furniture. I also plan to stop at The Body Shop to see if they sell a vegan lip balm. Yesterday evening, I stopped at my friend’s house and bought a small bottle of hand cold pressed coconut oil that she makes, but it doesn’t seem to be helping enough. It’s so hot here that the oil is too runny.
+
I had to clean all the white Ikea furniture, which was infested with some sort of superficial mold or fungus. I managed to get most of it out and was thinking that the furniture was quite durable. Then I went to inspect the old teak furniture, and it didn’t even need much cleaning. It’s been around for at least 50 years, and it looks like it will be around 50 years from now. The Ikea furniture on the other hand, maybe a few more years, but we’ll see how sturdy it feels when I reassemble it in Cambodia in a couple of weeks.
+
I had a friend come to help me for two days, which has been a real blessing. The other three days I spent alone, in silence. I enjoyed that as well.
+
The Asoke (Saraca indica) trees I planted behind the house almost a decade ago are finally giving nice shade. Someone chopped down the Cacao trees I planted on the south side, which is a shame, but it’s time to let go of that house anyway.
+
I haven’t had a chance to see much else. I plan to go visit a young rubber plantation where I saw a couple of hundred trees being exploited a year ago. The last time I visited a few months ago they were still being exploited despite me telling the person in charge to make sure it was stopped. I also want to see how the young forest we planted a few years ago is doing. Last time I was not terribly impressed. Out of the five thousand or so tropical trees we planted I doubt even half survived. I also tend to be impatient. These are slow growing trees, so there’s not too much to see yet.
+
There’s another area with trees that are almost a decade old, and they look quite impressive. Forestry and agriculture have very shallow learning curves in my experience. Trying to make a farm is a white elephant. I’m tempted to plant more trees every year, but don’t want to spend more money on it. We might fill up the areas where trees died with fast-growing leguminous trees in a couple of years.
+
I haven’t seen any poisonous or dangerous animals this time, but I’ve been indoors almost all day, every day. I saw a scorpion and a juvenile giant centipede (Scolopendra gigantea) when I went out to a storage room and moved things around. Giant centipedes always give me the creeps (fun fact: they can live up to ten years). Stings from scorpions here are not as bad as giant centipedes (described by some as the most painful thing you can experience, which fortunately I have never experienced). I was bitten by a scorpion in the back once while sleeping and the pain was sharp but tolerable, and once on a finger joint and the pain was severe enough to take painkillers and sleep it off all day. N was bitten once in her sleep: She woke up, crushed the scorpion with her slipper and went back to sleep. Higher pain tolerance, less severe allergic reaction, both?
+
If I can finish packing by Wednesday evening, I’ll go spend a couple of nights in Bangkok. Otherwise, I’ll stay the rest of the time here. Time for bed. Another early start tomorrow morning.
+
Something to keep in mind for the future: close old chapters properly before starting new chapters.
I spent all day yesterday shopping at IKEA, and it was more tiring than the days I’ve spent packing. As much as I dislike supranational companies, I managed to buy everything I wanted, which would have been impossible without IKEA.
+
Nowadays, pretty much every time I go to someone’s house I feel a sense of displaced familiarity; I’ll see my kettle, or my chair or my cabinet and feel a sense of superficial connection. It’s familiar because I live with the same items, it’s displaced because there’s nothing cultural that ties me to these items except the omnipresence of the corporation.
+
Today I finally finished packing things in boxes. All that’s left is to pack the larger items and furniture with bubble wrap, cardboard and plastic wrap and to plastic wrap all the boxes. Fortunately, my friend is coming to help again tomorrow, and I’m hoping we’ll finish in one day, but I have a feeling it’s going to take at least two days, or three.
+
I heard thunder earlier today, went outside to take a look, and snapped a photo of the sky just before a massive storm. I was lucky we didn’t have a storm yesterday on the way back from IKEA or the furniture I bought might have been ruined. We covered the bed of the truck with a plastic tarp, but it was not completely watertight. I’m not sure if it would have kept the water out.
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
@@ -378,7 +642,7 @@
- ·737 words·4 mins
+ ·740 words·4 mins
@@ -458,7 +722,7 @@
- Why I am starting this blog.
+ Why I’m starting this blog.
diff --git a/public/archives/index.xml b/public/archives/index.xml
index e7f8ff0..f65a56f 100644
--- a/public/archives/index.xml
+++ b/public/archives/index.xml
@@ -7,14 +7,50 @@
Hugo -- gohugo.ioenAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- Sun, 02 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+ Tue, 11 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ Shopping and more packing
+ /archives/2023-07-11/2023-07-11/
+ Tue, 11 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-11/2023-07-11/
+ After a day of shoping for furniture, I’m back to packing. Snapped a photo of a menacing looking sky before the storm.
+
+
+
+ Half Way Mark
+ /archives/2023-07-09/
+ Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-09/
+ Packing has been hard, but rewarding work. Time for a break tomorrow. Five more days to go.
+
+
+
+ Arrived in Thailand
+ /archives/2023-07-04/
+ Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-04/
+ Coincidentally traveled with a friend. Had my measuring tape confiscated. Made it through in one piece.
+
+
+
+ Time to travel to the Land of Smiles
+ /archives/2023-07-03/
+ Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-03/
+ Breakfast at Sundays, our decision to consolidate and simplify, and an upcoming trip to Thailand.
+
+
A life-changing conversation
/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/
Sun, 02 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
@@ -32,7 +68,7 @@
Fri, 30 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0700/archives/2023-06-30/2023-06-30/
- Why I am starting this blog.
+ Why I’m starting this blog.
diff --git a/public/categories/index.html b/public/categories/index.html
index 1f0834f..6c34e37 100644
--- a/public/categories/index.html
+++ b/public/categories/index.html
@@ -268,6 +268,22 @@
+
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+ Breakfast at Sundays, our decision to consolidate and simplify, and an upcoming trip to Thailand.
+
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diff --git a/public/categories/travel/index.xml b/public/categories/travel/index.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4d886c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/categories/travel/index.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+
+
+
+ Travel on >mv_
+ /categories/travel/
+ Recent content in Travel on >mv_
+ Hugo -- gohugo.io
+ en
+ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
+ Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ Half Way Mark
+ /archives/2023-07-09/
+ Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-09/
+ Packing has been hard, but rewarding work. Time for a break tomorrow. Five more days to go.
+
+
+
+ Arrived in Thailand
+ /archives/2023-07-04/
+ Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-04/
+ Coincidentally traveled with a friend. Had my measuring tape confiscated. Made it through in one piece.
+
+
+
+ Time to travel to the Land of Smiles
+ /archives/2023-07-03/
+ Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-03/
+ Breakfast at Sundays, our decision to consolidate and simplify, and an upcoming trip to Thailand.
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/public/categories/travel/page/1/index.html b/public/categories/travel/page/1/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7fef8d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/categories/travel/page/1/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+
+
+
+ /categories/travel/
+
+
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+
+
+
diff --git a/public/categories/veganism/index.html b/public/categories/veganism/index.html
index 22e405a..d285f13 100644
--- a/public/categories/veganism/index.html
+++ b/public/categories/veganism/index.html
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@
- ·659 words·4 mins
+ ·658 words·4 mins
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
diff --git a/public/categories/veganism/index.xml b/public/categories/veganism/index.xml
index af38ffc..2cee742 100644
--- a/public/categories/veganism/index.xml
+++ b/public/categories/veganism/index.xml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
Sun, 02 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
diff --git a/public/index.html b/public/index.html
index c79deb3..a499008 100644
--- a/public/index.html
+++ b/public/index.html
@@ -274,6 +274,270 @@
+ Breakfast at Sundays, our decision to consolidate and simplify, and an upcoming trip to Thailand.
+
+
+
+
+
+
@@ -319,7 +583,7 @@
- ·659 words·4 mins
+ ·658 words·4 mins
@@ -333,7 +597,7 @@
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
@@ -385,7 +649,7 @@
- ·737 words·4 mins
+ ·740 words·4 mins
@@ -465,7 +729,7 @@
- Why I am starting this blog.
+ Why I’m starting this blog.
diff --git a/public/index.json b/public/index.json
index f23bf36..f70cf00 100644
--- a/public/index.json
+++ b/public/index.json
@@ -1 +1 @@
-[{"content":"A space for thoughts. # ","date":null,"permalink":"/","section":"","summary":"A space for thoughts.","title":""},{"content":"Background # I bought the domain that I’m using —vegancambodia.com— a while ago, thinking it made sense, living in Cambodia and wanting to do something with veganism. I usually buy .org names, but thought I\u0026rsquo;d go for a .com in case we decided to make a business out of it. Well, it must be close to a year later and nothing has happened with the domain or with veganism (aside from the practice it, of course). So, let me say something about veganism then, in honor of the domain name and the unfortunate souls that may land here searching for information on veganism in Cambodia in the future.\nWhen my wife was pregnant, I had a conversation with a friend in Penang. To explain to me how unnatural it is to eat animals, she told me how shocking it had been for her three children when they each discovered that the food they ate came from living animals that had been killed so that they could eat them. We only come to see this as natural as part of a long process of normalization.\nFor months, I couldn’t stop thinking about our conversation, and I kept trying to think how I would explain our eating habits to my daughter in a logical and ethical way when the time came. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory explanation for why we enslave, torture and kill other species so that we can eat them and their secretions.\nEventually, I had to accept that I had grown up with illogical belief system, and the only way to escape the cognitive dissonance was to ignore it or to align my actions with my ethics. This was likely the single biggest realization I had toward becoming vegan. I thank my friend Esther and my daughter for this wonderful awakening.\nSundays # Talking of veganism, there\u0026rsquo;s a new vegan restaurant in town. This is big news, as the count currently stands at three (including the new place), and we don\u0026rsquo;t eat at one of the three anymore for reasons I will not go into on this post.\nThe place is called Sundays (yeah, we went on a Saturday, I know) and is run by Darren and Tam, a charming Aussie-Khmer and British couple. It has a beautiful loft style interior with Japanese and Thai accents and a skateboarder ethos. Colorful lithographs by various Thai and Chinese artists line the walls, with some skateboard wall art. A spiral staircase leads to a mezzanine lounge featuring bespoke wooden lounge furniture and a neon sign at the back that reads ‘Take It Easy.’ The design showcases a spacious and inviting open kitchen and high ceilings and large windows, which let in a ton of light and make the place feel airy.\nForgive me for starting with dessert, but I\u0026rsquo;ve never been one for rules. They have vegan waffles! I hadn\u0026rsquo;t had a waffle for a while. In fact, I\u0026rsquo;ve had two waffles in the almost four years since I became vegan (largely because we were stuck in Cambodia for three of those years, without Sundays). I had a waffle once at Wai Nam Beach resort in Koh Pha Ngan last year and another at Veganerie, in Bangkok, a few months ago. It sounds silly, I know. I could go out and buy a waffle machine, but then I\u0026rsquo;d have to own a specialized device that I would only use sporadically, and I\u0026rsquo;d rather not add another clunky machine to the kitchen storage. So, we shared a tasty pandan coconut waffle with homemade, hand-churned, coconut ice cream, and it was perfect.\nFor dinner, we had some sort of sticky cauliflower chunks, a Khmer fusion somlor korko noodle dish and a spicy tom yum club sandwich. For drinks, we had Thai bubble tea and water.\nWe liked the place so much we\u0026rsquo;re going back for breakfast today (on a Sunday, of course).\n","date":"2 July 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/","section":"Archives","summary":"One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.","title":"A life-changing conversation"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/archives/","section":"Archives","summary":"","title":"Archives"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/biographical/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"biographical"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/compassion/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"compassion"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/food/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"food"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/restaurants/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Restaurants"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/veganism/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"veganism"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/veganism/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Veganism"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/dystopia/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"dystopia"},{"content":"I arrived at the gym a few weeks ago to notice they were removing the key locks from the lockers and replacing them with some sort of RFID bracelet technology. I chuckled, because this is exactly what I feel is wrong with technolgoy: They replaced a low maintenance time-tested technology (lock and key), with a high-maintenance untested fad consisting of many more moving parts. For starters, each locker now requires a regular battery change. I didn’t open the battery compartment, but it looks like it takes triple A’s.\nTo be fair with the management, the new technology did solve the perennial problem caused by whatever sequential (FIFO?) system they were using to distribute keys to people as they walked in, and which caused congestion at specific areas of the locker room while leaving the rest of the space completely unused. The digital bracelets can lock any locker, allowing members to choose for themselves. I can think of simpler ways of fixing that problem.\nA week or so later, I walked into the lobby and noticed they were changing the check-in system, which consisted of an RFID enabled member card scanned on entry, to what appeared to be fingerprint scanners. Bad news, I thought. Sure enough, within a few days the new system was up, and I was asked to scan my finger and get a new membership card to continue using the facilities. I informed them I would not provide my biometrics to enter a gym (or any place for that matter). The only exception being entering and leaving countries and other mandatory government initiatives where I have no choice.\nWhy do I have a problem with biometrics enabled doors? It makes me feel we’re ushering in a dystopian future we will regret. I see a future where, cheaply and on a massive scale, every door will open (or not) based on each individual: \u0026ldquo;Sorry citizen, this a ‘Class A‘ facility. Based on your socioeconomic profile and psychometric tests (or social credit score?) you are ranked ‘Class B-’. Please step aside.\u0026rdquo;\nI have a problem with the data collection itself. Will this database be sold to third parties? Where are the servers located? What kind of firewall is used? This gym is one of the fanciest in town. Who would like to access member data? For what purposes?\nI asked politely why they required my fingerprint in addition to the RFID enabled card (which now need not be scanned, but must be deposited at reception to receive towels and locker opening bracelet). They informed me members were sharing their cards with third parties and the owner wanted to fix the problem.\nI told them my wife and I use the gym almost every day, and had no desire to share the card with anyone else. I also reminded them of the large TV hanging over the entrance gate and displaying each member’s private information as they scan the card, including a photo (the same photo printed on the card itself), and number of times the door has been accessed since the membership became active. They said they would raise the issue with \u0026ldquo;The Big Boss.\u0026rdquo;\nA few weeks of silence ensued; The Big Boss was out of the country, I was informed. Finally, last week I went to ask again and was told The Big Boss understands and respects my dilemma. There are four of us refuseniks in the entire gym. We will be allowed to finish our yearly membership, but will not be allowed to renew it. I mentioned this drama to an acquaintance who lives in a suburb recently and he laughed and told me his gym has no need for cards or fingerprints: a facial recognition system automatically opens the door.\nMeanwhile, at my gym, a security guard scans an RFID enabled card to let me in every time after I show him my old RFID membership card, which I then deposit with the reception to receive a silicon bracelet and two towels, and scans the card again after I exchange the towels and bracelet for the card. I asked them why they wouldn’t make an exception and allow me to have an RFID card that opens the gate, like the guard’s. Not possible, they said, but would I reconsider my position maybe? I told them there’s only one finger I’m going to give them, and it will not be used for biometric scanning.\n","date":"1 July 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-07-01/","section":"Archives","summary":"Fingerprinting as fashion. On enabling useless and potentially harmful technology for the sake of looking cool.","title":"On technology"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/technology/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"technology"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/technology/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Technology"},{"content":" A couple of months ago, I stumbled on Jack Baty\u0026rsquo;s blog, added it to Elfeed, and started reading his daily updates. After a few weeks, I was looking forward to reading them every morning.\nBeing a digital recluse, I\u0026rsquo;m still a bit skeptical of my capacity to enjoy sharing tidbits of my life openly online, but what the heck, I\u0026rsquo;ll give it a shot.\nA shout-out to Jack for unwittingly coaxing me out of the shell.\nLet the experiment begin!\n","date":"30 June 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-06-30/2023-06-30/","section":"Archives","summary":"Why I am starting this blog.","title":"My First Blog Post"},{"content":"About me # Hi! My name is Marcel. I’m married, have one daughter, and run a construction consultancy and stamped concrete contracting business in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.\nI like traveling and have previously lived in Mexico, the US, Argentina, and Thailand.\nI enjoy (think, read about, use or practice) in no particular order: yoga, Emacs, veganism, tinkering, geopolitics, education, and Free Software.\n","date":null,"permalink":"/about/","section":"","summary":"About me # Hi!","title":""}]
\ No newline at end of file
+[{"content":"A space for thoughts. # ","date":null,"permalink":"/","section":"","summary":"A space for thoughts.","title":""},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/archives/","section":"Archives","summary":"","title":"Archives"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/globocap/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"globocap"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/shopping/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"shopping"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/shopping/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Shopping"},{"content":" I spent all day yesterday shopping at IKEA, and it was more tiring than the days I’ve spent packing. As much as I dislike supranational companies, I managed to buy everything I wanted, which would have been impossible without IKEA.\nNowadays, pretty much every time I go to someone’s house I feel a sense of displaced familiarity; I’ll see my kettle, or my chair or my cabinet and feel a sense of superficial connection. It’s familiar because I live with the same items, it’s displaced because there’s nothing cultural that ties me to these items except the omnipresence of the corporation.\nToday I finally finished packing things in boxes. All that’s left is to pack the larger items and furniture with bubble wrap, cardboard and plastic wrap and to plastic wrap all the boxes. Fortunately, my friend is coming to help again tomorrow, and I’m hoping we’ll finish in one day, but I have a feeling it’s going to take at least two days, or three.\nI heard thunder earlier today, went outside to take a look, and snapped a photo of the sky just before a massive storm. I was lucky we didn’t have a storm yesterday on the way back from IKEA or the furniture I bought might have been ruined. We covered the bed of the truck with a plastic tarp, but it was not completely watertight. I’m not sure if it would have kept the water out.\n","date":"11 July 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-07-11/2023-07-11/","section":"Archives","summary":"After a day of shoping for furniture, I\u0026rsquo;m back to packing. Snapped a photo of a menacing looking sky before the storm.","title":"Shopping and more packing"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags"},{"content":"It’s been a packing marathon. I wake up at 6:30am get dressed, have breakfast, drive 40 km to the house I’m packing, then come home at 6:30pm, have dinner, take a shower, relax, and go to sleep. Today was day 5. I think I’m about 70% done with packing. My hands hurt. My lips are badly chapped for some reason; I probably haven’t been drinking enough water.\nI’m taking a break from packing tomorrow to go shopping for furniture. I also plan to stop at The Body Shop to see if they sell a vegan lip balm. Yesterday evening, I stopped at my friend’s house and bought a small bottle of hand cold pressed coconut oil that she makes, but it doesn’t seem to be helping enough. It’s so hot here that the oil is too runny.\nI had to clean all the white Ikea furniture, which was infested with some sort of superficial mold or fungus. I managed to get most of it out and was thinking that the furniture was quite durable. Then I went to inspect the old teak furniture, and it didn’t even need much cleaning. It’s been around for at least 50 years, and it looks like it will be around 50 years from now. The Ikea furniture on the other hand, maybe a few more years, but we’ll see how sturdy it feels when I reassemble it in Cambodia in a couple of weeks.\nI had a friend come to help me for two days, which has been a real blessing. The other three days I spent alone, in silence. I enjoyed that as well.\nThe Asoke (Saraca indica) trees I planted behind the house almost a decade ago are finally giving nice shade. Someone chopped down the Cacao trees I planted on the south side, which is a shame, but it’s time to let go of that house anyway.\nI haven’t had a chance to see much else. I plan to go visit a young rubber plantation where I saw a couple of hundred trees being exploited a year ago. The last time I visited a few months ago they were still being exploited despite me telling the person in charge to make sure it was stopped. I also want to see how the young forest we planted a few years ago is doing. Last time I was not terribly impressed. Out of the five thousand or so tropical trees we planted I doubt even half survived. I also tend to be impatient. These are slow growing trees, so there’s not too much to see yet.\nThere’s another area with trees that are almost a decade old, and they look quite impressive. Forestry and agriculture have very shallow learning curves in my experience. Trying to make a farm is a white elephant. I’m tempted to plant more trees every year, but don’t want to spend more money on it. We might fill up the areas where trees died with fast-growing leguminous trees in a couple of years.\nI haven’t seen any poisonous or dangerous animals this time, but I’ve been indoors almost all day, every day. I saw a scorpion and a juvenile giant centipede (Scolopendra gigantea) when I went out to a storage room and moved things around. Giant centipedes always give me the creeps (fun fact: they can live up to ten years). Stings from scorpions here are not as bad as giant centipedes (described by some as the most painful thing you can experience, which fortunately I have never experienced). I was bitten by a scorpion in the back once while sleeping and the pain was sharp but tolerable, and once on a finger joint and the pain was severe enough to take painkillers and sleep it off all day. N was bitten once in her sleep: She woke up, crushed the scorpion with her slipper and went back to sleep. Higher pain tolerance, less severe allergic reaction, both?\nIf I can finish packing by Wednesday evening, I’ll go spend a couple of nights in Bangkok. Otherwise, I’ll stay the rest of the time here. Time for bed. Another early start tomorrow morning.\nSomething to keep in mind for the future: close old chapters properly before starting new chapters.\n","date":"9 July 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-07-09/","section":"Archives","summary":"Packing has been hard, but rewarding work. Time for a break tomorrow. Five more days to go.","title":"Half Way Mark"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/letting-go/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"letting go"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/travel/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"travel"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/travel/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Travel"},{"content":"I messaged a friend last night to give him some duplicate books I had for his daughter. He told me he was taking the morning flight to Thailand. It turned out to be the same flight. We almost took a taxi to the airport together, but he’s much more laid back than I am, and wanted to leave home much later than me. We met at the airport and traveled together, and it was fun.\nAt check-in, the counter guy informed me the carry-on limit was 7kg. He weighed the bag and it was 10kg so he asked me to check it in. I told him the last time I did so they broke the wheels on an identical bag, so he had me open the bags and shift stuff into my backpack until the carry-on was 7kg. In spite of the worldwide bureaucracy, at least in Cambodia people seem to be more flexible. It reminds me a bit of India in that sense.\nThey confiscated my measuring tape at the x-ray machine. The guy pulled-out 20 cm or so and mimicked cutting someone’s head off with it. In a mission impossible movie, maybe. I guess I could have sharpened or serrated the edge for the task. Meanwhile, I decided to take a pack of double edge razor blades with me because I didn’t know where I would find them here and didn’t want to buy a disposable plastic razor I would have to toss in the trash at the end of the trip. I figured if they complained I would toss them out. The razor blades made it through without a glitch. The Stanley measuring tape I lugged around the world for the past 15 or 20 years is gone. At least they don’t make you take your shoes off at that airport.\nThe security guy said I could go back downstairs and check it in as luggage, but I thought the airline would probably want to charge for a checked-in bag, and I was lazy to navigate security backwards through immigration and to the check-in counter, and then wait for it to come out of the conveyor belt in Bangkok. I asked him if he could keep it for me and I could pick it up on the way back. He called his supervisor and his supervisor said no. A few years ago I forgot an Opinel knife in the hand luggage and the security guy was nice enough to give me his phone number and keep it for me, so I could send someone to pick it up. Maybe their SOP’s post-apocalypse have become stricter.\nMy plans to threaten to measure the pilot unless he flew me to Mogadishu were thus thwarted, and I had to settle for a trip to Thailand instead. I hope, at least, that the security officer will receive a promotion for his excellent x-ray analysis skills. It’s nice to think I didn’t lose the measuring tape to no purpose. I’ll have to find another measuring tape tomorrow morning to measure the furniture for logistics and customs. I’d rather not buy a new one because I don’t know if the Thai x-ray crew would also confiscate the measuring tape on the way back. On second thought, I suppose I could always pack it and ship it back.\nI went for a swim after I arrived. Decided to read my book outside because the weather was nice, but after a few minutes the eye gnats had found me and started bother me, flying around my eyes. Eye gnats are one of the things I’ve never liked about this area. Even an intensive 12-day Vipassana course didn’t help me become tolerant to them. I’m inside in the aircon now, looking out at the view from the window as I write this. There’s one eye gnat and one house fly keeping me company. As the room cools down, they become less bothersome.\n","date":"4 July 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-07-04/","section":"Archives","summary":"Coincidentally traveled with a friend. Had my measuring tape confiscated. Made it through in one piece.","title":"Arrived in Thailand"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/bureaucracy/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"bureaucracy"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/derek-sivers/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Derek Sivers"},{"content":"We went back to Sundays yesterday morning and tried their pancakes and the Phnom Penh Breakfast Bagel. Both dishes were tasty.\nAfter breakfast, my daughter J wanted to go to the pool but it looked like it was going to rain, so we decided to wait for a while. It ended up not raining, but the rest of the day the sky looked like Bear Grylls would have built a shelter. It was also cool (for Phnom Penh standards) and humid; cool weather is always welcome.\nI spent the rest of the day fiddling with the blog, reading Derek Sivers blog, which I hadn’t visited for years, writing my own Now page, and choosing a few pieces of furniture to buy in Thailand and ship to Cambodia when we ship the rest of our stuff here later this month.\nI made humus with carrots, cucumbers and some Ciabatta bread and we had dinner watching Kiki\u0026rsquo;s Delivery Service. I\u0026rsquo;m on the lookout for new movies for J. So far she\u0026rsquo;s watched a few Studio Ghibli animations over and over, and a couple of nature documentaries. We tried a couple of other Studio Ghibli animations a few months back, but she said they were too scary.\nI dislike Disney, so we\u0026rsquo;ve avoided all of that for now. Other girls we know are obsessed with princesses. Since it’s impossible to avoid all the Disney propaganda, J likes them but at least she’s is not obsessed. She knows I don\u0026rsquo;t like them, and from time to time asks me to explain why. I tell her I find regular people more interesting and affable, and I tell her we should like people for who they are and what they do, rather than because we’re told or taught to like them. She says she understands, but she still likes princesses, because it\u0026rsquo;s fun.\nChanging topics, I finally decided to buy a ticket to Thailand yesterday night. I\u0026rsquo;m flying on Tuesday morning and will spend most of the time packing at the farm. I found some clarity during the 12 day silent meditation retreat a few weeks ago, and decided we should simplify. When I got back, N was on board with the idea. I’ll go to pack first and then she’ll go to sell things and arrange the move. I’m looking forward to rediscovering things I’ve forgotten we have.\nI was afraid to buy a one-way ticket because I\u0026rsquo;ve heard countries have become more strict about return tickets after the apocalypse, and I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to have to buy a return ticket in a rush at the counter. If I finish packing early, I\u0026rsquo;ll spend a few days hanging out in Bangkok. If I don\u0026rsquo;t finish on time, I\u0026rsquo;ll buy a new ticket. I\u0026rsquo;m lazy about the task ahead, but excited to consolidate and simplify.\n","date":"3 July 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-07-03/","section":"Archives","summary":"Breakfast at Sundays, our decision to consolidate and simplify, and an upcoming trip to Thailand.","title":"Time to travel to the Land of Smiles"},{"content":"Now # Updated July 2nd, 2023 from my home in Phnom Penh. The rainy season has started.\nLocation # Cambodia\nFamily # Activities \u0026amp; projects with my daughter # My daughter is unschooled. I like to help her follow her interests, so this is an area where I research, read, and spend time with her.\nMoving # We’ll be moving to a house close by in a couple of weeks.\nPacking stuff in Thailand # I’ll be in Thailand, packing a house full of stuff we left there more than 5 years ago. Some things have been unopened for the best part of a decade, since they were shipped from Mexico. The apocalypse turned two years to five in the blink of an eye.\nMom’s visit # My mom will be coming to visit from Mexico later this year and will be staying with us for an extended period. We haven’t seen each other for more than 5 years and she’s never met my daughter. I have a few things to prepare for her visit.\nBusiness # Company organization, BD \u0026amp; collateral, back of house # These next months I’ll be focusing on our KPR’s, online business development, SOP’s, hiring, training, and supervising new staff.\nPersonal # Fitness # I exercise at the gym 5 or 6 times per week. Some days I do yoga, some days weights and rowing. I haven’t been doing much yoga lately except for warm-up yoga, because my knees were hurting and I felt I needed some rest.\nBlog # I’m making it a habit to write posts for this blog.\nBooks # Currently Reading or Working With One Peaceful World Cookbook by Alex Jack \u0026amp; Sachs Karo\nWonderful macrobiotic vegan recipes. I have tried a dozen of them so far and none have disappointed. Smart Choices by John Hammond, et al.\nInteresting premise. The 4 Disciplines of Execution by McPherson et al.\nReading this as a sequel to Christina Wodtke\u0026rsquo;s Radical Focus, which I enjoyed. The Unschooled Unmannual by John Holt\nInteresting observations on the way children learn. Recently Finished The Art of Living by S. N. Goenka\nI Read this as a preparation for a 10 (12 actually) day silent meditation retreat. Interesting book. Interesting retreat. Somewhat cultist, but gave me interesting takeaways. The book by itself may not be interesting without the retreat. On Being a Teacher by Jonathan Kozol\nPleasingly subversive reading. Although the target readership are teachers, it was a worthwhile book to read as a parent with an unschooled child as well. Tools for Conviviality by Ivan Illich\nA thought-provoking book. Read it for the second time as I thought I needed a refresher. How Children Learn by John Holt\nInteresting read. Patria 1 by Paco Ignacio Taibo II\nMexican mid 19th century history by a left wing intellectual. An interesting read and part one of a three part series. Chants of a Lifetime: Searching for a Heart of Gold by Krishna Das\nI love to listen to his chants. The book did not disappoint. Krishna Das is a man of true devotion. Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita by Ram Dass\nI have a nuanced relationship with the thoughts of Ram Dass. Interesting guy. We don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but I enjoy reading him. His thoughts on vegetarianism on this book are disappointing, to put it mildly. The Surrender Experiment and The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer\nReally enjoyed reading both of these books. (This is a Now page. Thanks to Derek Sivers for the idea)\n","date":null,"permalink":"/now/","section":"","summary":"Now # Updated July 2nd, 2023 from my home in Phnom Penh.","title":""},{"content":"Background # I bought the domain that I’m using —vegancambodia.com— a while ago, thinking it made sense, living in Cambodia and wanting to do something with veganism. I usually buy .org names, but thought I\u0026rsquo;d go for a .com in case we decided to make a business out of it. Well, it must be close to a year later and nothing has happened with the domain or with veganism (aside from the practice of it, of course). So, let me say something about veganism then, in honor of the domain name and the unfortunate souls that may land here searching for information on veganism in Cambodia in the future.\nWhen my wife was pregnant, I had a conversation with a friend in Penang. To explain to me how unnatural it is to eat animals, she told me how shocking it had been for her three children when they each discovered that the food they ate came from living animals that had been killed so that they could eat them. We only come to see this as natural as part of a long process of normalization.\nFor months, I couldn’t stop thinking about our conversation, and I kept trying to think how I would explain our eating habits to my daughter in a logical and ethical way when the time came. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory explanation for why we enslave, torture and kill other species so that we can eat them and their secretions.\nEventually, I had to accept that I had grown up with illogical belief system, and the only way to escape the cognitive dissonance was to ignore it or to align my actions to my ethics. This was likely the single biggest realization I had toward becoming vegan. I thank my friend Esther and my daughter for this wonderful awakening.\nSundays # Talking of veganism, there\u0026rsquo;s a new vegan restaurant in town. This is big news, as the count currently stands at three (including the new place), and we don\u0026rsquo;t eat at one of the three anymore for reasons I will not go into in this post.\nThe place is called Sundays (yeah, we went on a Saturday, I know) and is run by Darren and Tam, a charming Aussie-Khmer and British couple. It has a beautiful loft style interior with Japanese and Thai accents and a skateboarder ethos. Colorful lithographs by various Thai and Chinese artists line the walls, with some skateboard wall art. A spiral staircase leads to a mezzanine lounge featuring bespoke wooden lounge furniture and a neon sign at the back that reads ‘Take It Easy.’ The design showcases a spacious and inviting open kitchen, high ceilings and, large windows, letting in plenty of light downstairs and making the place feel airy.\nForgive me for starting with dessert, but I\u0026rsquo;ve never been one for rules, and they have vegan waffles! I hadn\u0026rsquo;t had a waffle for a while. In fact, I\u0026rsquo;ve had two waffles in the almost four years since I became vegan (largely because we were stuck in Cambodia for three of those years, without Sundays). I had a waffle once at Wai Nam Beach resort in Koh Pha Ngan last year and another at Veganerie, in Bangkok, a few months ago. It sounds silly, I know. I could go out and buy a waffle machine, but then I\u0026rsquo;d have to own a specialized device that I would only use sporadically, and I\u0026rsquo;d rather not add another clunky machine to the kitchen. So, we shared a tasty pandan coconut waffle with homemade, hand-churned, coconut ice cream, and it was perfect.\nFor dinner, we had some sort of sticky cauliflower chunks, a Khmer fusion somlor korko noodle dish and a spicy tom yum club sandwich. For drinks, we had Thai bubble tea and water.\nWe liked the place so much we\u0026rsquo;re going back for breakfast today (on a Sunday, of course).\n","date":"2 July 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/","section":"Archives","summary":"One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.","title":"A life-changing conversation"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/biographical/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"biographical"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/compassion/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"compassion"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/food/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"food"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/restaurants/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Restaurants"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/veganism/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"veganism"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/veganism/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Veganism"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/dystopia/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"dystopia"},{"content":"I arrived at the gym a few weeks ago to notice they were removing the key locks from the lockers and replacing them with some sort of RFID bracelet technology. I chuckled, because this is exactly what I feel is wrong with technolgoy: They replaced a low maintenance time-tested technology (lock and key), with a high-maintenance untested fad consisting of many more moving parts. For starters, each locker now requires a regular battery change. I didn’t open the battery compartment, but it looks like they take triple A’s.\nTo be fair with the management, the new technology did solve the perennial problem caused by whatever sequential (FIFO?) system they were using to distribute keys to people as they walked in, and which caused congestion at specific areas of the locker room while leaving the rest of the space completely unused. The digital bracelets can lock any locker, allowing members to choose for themselves. I can think of simpler ways of fixing that problem though.\nA week or so later, I walked into the lobby and noticed they were changing the check-in system, which consisted of an RFID enabled member card scanned on entry, to what appeared to be fingerprint scanners. Bad news, I thought. Sure enough, within a few days the new system was up, and I was asked to scan my finger and get a new membership card to continue using the facilities. I informed them I would not provide my biometrics to enter a gym (or any place for that matter). The only exception being entering and leaving countries and other mandatory government initiatives where I feel I have no choice.\nWhy do I have a problem with biometrics enabled doors? It makes me feel we’re ushering in a dystopian future we will regret. I see a future where, cheaply and on a massive scale, every door will open (or not) based on each individual: \u0026ldquo;Sorry citizen, this a ‘Class A‘ facility. Based on your socioeconomic profile and psychometric tests (or social credit score?) you are ranked ‘Class B-’. Please step aside.\u0026rdquo;\nI have a problem with the data collection itself. Will this database be sold to third parties? Where are the servers located? What kind of firewall is used? This gym is one of the fanciest in town. Who would like to access member data? For what purposes?\nI asked politely why they required my fingerprint in addition to the RFID enabled card (which now need not be scanned, but must be deposited at reception to receive towels and locker opening bracelet). They informed me members were sharing their cards with third parties and the owner wanted to fix the problem.\nI told them my wife and I use the gym almost every day, and had no desire to share the card with anyone else. I also reminded them of the large TV hanging over the entrance gate and displaying each member’s private information as they scan the card, including a photo (the same photo printed on the card itself), and number of times the door has been accessed since the membership became active. They said they would raise the issue with \u0026ldquo;The Big Boss.\u0026rdquo;\nA few weeks of silence ensued; The Big Boss was out of the country, I was informed. Finally, last week I went to ask again and was told The Big Boss understands and respects my dilemma. There are four of us refuseniks in the entire gym. We will be allowed to finish our yearly membership, but will not be allowed to renew it. I mentioned this drama to an acquaintance who lives in a suburb recently and he laughed and told me his gym has no need for cards or fingerprints: a facial recognition system automatically opens the door.\nMeanwhile, at my gym, a security guard scans an RFID enabled card to let me in every time after I show him my old RFID membership card, which I then deposit with the reception to receive a silicon bracelet and two towels, and scans the card again after I exchange the towels and bracelet for the card. I asked them why they wouldn’t make an exception and allow me to have an RFID card that opens the gate, like the guard’s. Not possible, they said, but would I reconsider my position maybe? I told them there’s only one finger I’m going to give them, and it will not be used for biometric scanning.\n","date":"1 July 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-07-01/","section":"Archives","summary":"Fingerprinting as fashion. On enabling useless and potentially harmful technology for the sake of looking cool.","title":"On technology"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/tags/technology/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"technology"},{"content":"","date":null,"permalink":"/categories/technology/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Technology"},{"content":" A couple of months ago, I stumbled on Jack Baty\u0026rsquo;s blog, added it to Elfeed, and started reading his daily updates. After a few weeks, I was looking forward to reading them every morning.\nBeing a digital recluse, I\u0026rsquo;m still a bit skeptical of my capacity to enjoy sharing tidbits of my life openly online, but what the heck, I\u0026rsquo;ll give it a shot.\nA shout-out to Jack for unwittingly coaxing me out of the shell.\nLet the experiment begin!\n","date":"30 June 2023","permalink":"/archives/2023-06-30/2023-06-30/","section":"Archives","summary":"Why I\u0026rsquo;m starting this blog.","title":"My First Blog Post"},{"content":"About me # Hi! My name is Marcel. I’m married, have one daughter, and run a construction consultancy and stamped concrete contracting business in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.\nI like slow travel and learning about new cultures, and have previously lived in Mexico, the US, Argentina, and Thailand, and spent long periods backpacking through India and Nepal.\nI enjoy (think, read about, use or practice) in no particular order: yoga, Emacs, veganism, tinkering, geopolitics, education, and Free Software (yes, Emacs is Free Software, but it deserves a separate entry).\nThis is what I’m doing Now.\nSay hello, I always like to meet new people.\n","date":null,"permalink":"/about/","section":"","summary":"About me # Hi!","title":""}]
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diff --git a/public/index.xml b/public/index.xml
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+++ b/public/index.xml
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Hugo -- gohugo.ioenAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- Sun, 02 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+ Tue, 11 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ Shopping and more packing
+ /archives/2023-07-11/2023-07-11/
+ Tue, 11 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-11/2023-07-11/
+ After a day of shoping for furniture, I’m back to packing. Snapped a photo of a menacing looking sky before the storm.
+
+
+
+ Half Way Mark
+ /archives/2023-07-09/
+ Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-09/
+ Packing has been hard, but rewarding work. Time for a break tomorrow. Five more days to go.
+
+
+
+ Arrived in Thailand
+ /archives/2023-07-04/
+ Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-04/
+ Coincidentally traveled with a friend. Had my measuring tape confiscated. Made it through in one piece.
+
+
+
+ Time to travel to the Land of Smiles
+ /archives/2023-07-03/
+ Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-03/
+ Breakfast at Sundays, our decision to consolidate and simplify, and an upcoming trip to Thailand.
+
+
A life-changing conversation
/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/
Sun, 02 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
@@ -32,7 +68,7 @@
Fri, 30 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0700/archives/2023-06-30/2023-06-30/
- Why I am starting this blog.
+ Why I’m starting this blog.
diff --git a/public/now/index.html b/public/now/index.html
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I’ll be in Thailand, packing a house full of stuff we left there more than 5 years ago. Some things have been unopened for the best part of a decade, since they were shipped from Mexico. The apocalypse turned two years to five in the blink of an eye.
My mom will be coming to visit from Mexico later this year and will be staying with us for an extended period. We haven’t seen each other for more than 5 years and she’s never met my daughter. I have a few things to prepare for her visit.
I exercise at the gym 5 or 6 times per week. Some days I do yoga, some days weights and rowing. I haven’t been doing much yoga lately except for warm-up yoga, because my knees were hurting and I felt I needed some rest.
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+Currently Reading or Working With
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One Peaceful World Cookbook by Alex Jack & Sachs Karo
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Wonderful macrobiotic vegan recipes. I have tried a dozen of them so far and none have disappointed.
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+
Smart Choices by John Hammond, et al.
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Interesting premise.
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The 4 Disciplines of Execution by McPherson et al.
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+
Reading this as a sequel to Christina Wodtke’s Radical Focus, which I enjoyed.
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The Unschooled Unmannual by John Holt
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Interesting observations on the way children learn.
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+Recently Finished
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The Art of Living by S. N. Goenka
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I Read this as a preparation for a 10 (12 actually) day silent meditation retreat. Interesting book. Interesting retreat. Somewhat cultist, but gave me interesting takeaways. The book by itself may not be interesting without the retreat.
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On Being a Teacher by Jonathan Kozol
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+
Pleasingly subversive reading. Although the target readership are teachers, it was a worthwhile book to read as a parent with an unschooled child as well.
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+
Tools for Conviviality by Ivan Illich
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A thought-provoking book. Read it for the second time as I thought I needed a refresher.
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How Children Learn by John Holt
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Interesting read.
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Patria 1 by Paco Ignacio Taibo II
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Mexican mid 19th century history by a left wing intellectual. An interesting read and part one of a three part series.
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Chants of a Lifetime: Searching for a Heart of Gold by Krishna Das
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I love to listen to his chants. The book did not disappoint. Krishna Das is a man of true devotion.
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+
Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad Gita by Ram Dass
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I have a nuanced relationship with the thoughts of Ram Dass. Interesting guy. We don’t see eye-to-eye on everything, but I enjoy reading him. His thoughts on vegetarianism on this book are disappointing, to put it mildly.
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The Surrender Experiment and The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
- ·659 words·4 mins
+ ·658 words·4 mins
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
diff --git a/public/tags/biographical/index.xml b/public/tags/biographical/index.xml
index ead9581..2f50c16 100644
--- a/public/tags/biographical/index.xml
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Sun, 02 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
diff --git a/public/tags/bureaucracy/index.html b/public/tags/bureaucracy/index.html
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+ Coincidentally traveled with a friend. Had my measuring tape confiscated. Made it through in one piece.
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diff --git a/public/tags/bureaucracy/index.xml b/public/tags/bureaucracy/index.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fa1536
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/tags/bureaucracy/index.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+
+
+
+ bureaucracy on >mv_
+ /tags/bureaucracy/
+ Recent content in bureaucracy on >mv_
+ Hugo -- gohugo.io
+ en
+ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
+ Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ Arrived in Thailand
+ /archives/2023-07-04/
+ Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-04/
+ Coincidentally traveled with a friend. Had my measuring tape confiscated. Made it through in one piece.
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+
diff --git a/public/tags/bureaucracy/page/1/index.html b/public/tags/bureaucracy/page/1/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0231087
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/tags/bureaucracy/page/1/index.html
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+ /tags/bureaucracy/
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diff --git a/public/tags/compassion/index.html b/public/tags/compassion/index.html
index e35a1d4..7f7e9b5 100644
--- a/public/tags/compassion/index.html
+++ b/public/tags/compassion/index.html
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@
- ·659 words·4 mins
+ ·658 words·4 mins
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
diff --git a/public/tags/compassion/index.xml b/public/tags/compassion/index.xml
index 80bd85e..e628cbc 100644
--- a/public/tags/compassion/index.xml
+++ b/public/tags/compassion/index.xml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
Sun, 02 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
diff --git a/public/tags/derek-sivers/index.html b/public/tags/derek-sivers/index.html
new file mode 100644
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+ Derek Sivers · >mv_
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+ Breakfast at Sundays, our decision to consolidate and simplify, and an upcoming trip to Thailand.
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diff --git a/public/tags/derek-sivers/index.xml b/public/tags/derek-sivers/index.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..81ba9c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/tags/derek-sivers/index.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+
+
+
+ Derek Sivers on >mv_
+ /tags/derek-sivers/
+ Recent content in Derek Sivers on >mv_
+ Hugo -- gohugo.io
+ en
+ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
+ Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ Time to travel to the Land of Smiles
+ /archives/2023-07-03/
+ Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-03/
+ Breakfast at Sundays, our decision to consolidate and simplify, and an upcoming trip to Thailand.
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/public/tags/derek-sivers/page/1/index.html b/public/tags/derek-sivers/page/1/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a21777
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/tags/derek-sivers/page/1/index.html
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+ /tags/derek-sivers/
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diff --git a/public/tags/dystopia/index.html b/public/tags/dystopia/index.html
index a3adf99..236d5e2 100644
--- a/public/tags/dystopia/index.html
+++ b/public/tags/dystopia/index.html
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@
- ·737 words·4 mins
+ ·740 words·4 mins
diff --git a/public/tags/food/index.html b/public/tags/food/index.html
index 8adcf30..5ea4759 100644
--- a/public/tags/food/index.html
+++ b/public/tags/food/index.html
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@
- ·659 words·4 mins
+ ·658 words·4 mins
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- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
diff --git a/public/tags/food/index.xml b/public/tags/food/index.xml
index 2f7528e..3e9a81e 100644
--- a/public/tags/food/index.xml
+++ b/public/tags/food/index.xml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
Sun, 02 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
diff --git a/public/tags/globocap/index.html b/public/tags/globocap/index.html
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
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+ globocap · >mv_
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diff --git a/public/tags/travel/index.xml b/public/tags/travel/index.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..584f9d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/tags/travel/index.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+
+
+
+ travel on >mv_
+ /tags/travel/
+ Recent content in travel on >mv_
+ Hugo -- gohugo.io
+ en
+ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
+ Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ Half Way Mark
+ /archives/2023-07-09/
+ Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-09/
+ Packing has been hard, but rewarding work. Time for a break tomorrow. Five more days to go.
+
+
+
+ Arrived in Thailand
+ /archives/2023-07-04/
+ Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-04/
+ Coincidentally traveled with a friend. Had my measuring tape confiscated. Made it through in one piece.
+
+
+
+ Time to travel to the Land of Smiles
+ /archives/2023-07-03/
+ Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700
+
+ /archives/2023-07-03/
+ Breakfast at Sundays, our decision to consolidate and simplify, and an upcoming trip to Thailand.
+
+
+
+
diff --git a/public/tags/travel/page/1/index.html b/public/tags/travel/page/1/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8cd3b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/tags/travel/page/1/index.html
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+ /tags/travel/
+
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diff --git a/public/tags/veganism/index.html b/public/tags/veganism/index.html
index 98af547..4a4d351 100644
--- a/public/tags/veganism/index.html
+++ b/public/tags/veganism/index.html
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@
- ·659 words·4 mins
+ ·658 words·4 mins
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
diff --git a/public/tags/veganism/index.xml b/public/tags/veganism/index.xml
index 6be9330..89e0a35 100644
--- a/public/tags/veganism/index.xml
+++ b/public/tags/veganism/index.xml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
Sun, 02 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0700/archives/2023-07-02/2023-07-02/
- One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at a new vegan restaurant in town.
+ One of the reasons I became vegan, and dinner at Sundays, a new vegan restaurant in town.
+
+
+