PC - Linked Up

Because I want to make things easy for you - yes, you - I've decided to link all my PC-related posts before leaving for Philadelphia so you can follow how I got to where I am now (far away).

Application Process
Part I - How I decided to join the PC. This post is epic: it's the first of this blog, spans nine months, and mentions two ex-girlfriends.
Part II - Cranking through the medical forms. I hint about how much I think the COW administration sucks. Fight the power!
Part III - Invited. And the freaking out begins...

Waiting (takes place between Parts II and III of the application process)
Conversations with Placement Officers - When I find out I'm going somewhere in Africa.
Freshman Year French Stories - If only I could tell you how the story I can't tell you ends. It's like those huge bows on top of the cars in the Lexus commercials.
Disclaimer thingy - I also express my disappointment with Vince Vaughn in Dodgeball.

Pre-Staging and Packing
The Denial Stage - Pretending like I'm not going to Africa by talking about Nyquil, Rescue Me, and the future president.
Flight Info and the Birth of the TDL
Information Overload - TMI with the packing lists
Ground Rules For You - What you're not supposed to tell me.
Packing List - Probably the most interesting thing in here. I tried to pack as light as possible without too many superfluous items.

Thanks for all the messages and phone calls, I really appreciate it. Don't hesitate to write, email, leave a comment here! I'll get back to everyone as quick as I can.

PC - Packing List

Well, I pretty much just finished packing all my crap by 9 PM tonight. By "I", I mean my mom did most of the packing, let's be honest. I came in 15 pounds under the 80 pound weight limit, not counting my backpack, which is my carry-on. I'm going to guess now, my most useless items will be: jeans, discman, flip-flops, fleece.

I think I remembered just about everything, so here it is:

Luggage
2 Suitcases (24 x 13 x 13, or around there)
My backpack I’ve had since high school (LL Bean backpacks are the shit)
Staaf Sails green duffel bag – packed in one of the suitcases

Things That Require Electricity/Batteries
Shortwave radio
Converter, Adapter
Digital Camera
Extra memory card (512 MB) for camera
A couple throwaway cameras for backup
Reading lamp (Thanks Emma!)
Mini-speakers
Flashlight
Ipod and all it comes with
Discman, random cds, blank cds (backup in case the ipod is fried/stolen)
Digital alarm clock
Battery charger, rechargeable batteries, regular batteries

Seemingly Useful Things
Duct tape
Swiss Army knife, Gerber multi-plier
Packtowl (super absorbent camping towel)
Nalgene
Passport/money neck pouch
Carabiner (hopefully it'll find a use)
Kitchen knife, non-stick frying pan

Misc.
Pens, pencils
2 spiral notebooks
2007 wall calendar
Stamps, envelopes
Wooster stationary
Deck of cards
Uno cards
Frisbee
Kool-Aid (to flavor the water)

Clothes
3 Polos
4 T-shirts
1 Dress shirt
A lot of underwear and socks
2 pairs of pants
1 pair of jeans
Shoes
- My blue New Balances
- Columbia hiking shoes
- Tevas
- Dress shoes (also waterproof)
- flip-flops
Tie
Fleece
Rain jacket

Books
Homage to Catalonia – George Orwell
Dark Star Safari – Paul Theroux (Thanks Uncle Bobby!)
Travels with Charley – John Steinbeck
Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris
Living on the Edge: Fiction by Peace Corps Writers – John Coyne, ed. (Thanks Emma!)
Peace Corps Volunteer Handbook – some bureaucrats
The Peace Corps Welcomes You To Cameroon – PC intro booklet to Cameroon
Lonely Planet West Africa guide

Gifts – Homestay Family
Yellow Wooster t-shirt
Youth Falcons hat
Atlanta calendar

Toiletries*
2 Toothbrushes
Some American toothpase
Floss
Bar of soap
Deodorant
2 bottles of hand sanitizer
About 6 months of contacts, solution
2 pairs of glasses (PC rule), Rx sunglasses, crappy crap shades
Tylenol
Etc., etc.
* The PC gives us a whole box of toiletries when we get in country

Random Facts, Predictions, Ground Rules

Okay, it's the night before I leave for Philadelphia, and everything I'm bringing is ready to be packed but not yet in a bag. Here are a couple things:

Most Played Songs - iTunes (this is since February when I got the new hard drive)
1. "Fake Tales of San Francisco", The Arctic Monkeys (18 plays)
2. "Decent Days and Nights", The Futureheads (17)
3. "Juicebox", The Strokes (17)
4. "Electricityscape", The Strokes (17)
5. "Chicago", Sufjan Stevens (17)

Sports
2006 Falcons: 10-6, lose in NFC Championship game
2006-07 Hawks: 35-47
2007 Braves: 73-89
2007 BCS Champion: OSU

Ground Rules
Perhaps the most important post in the short and pointless history of the blog:

1. No one will tell me anything about the following TV Shows: Lost, 24, The Wire, Studio 60, and The Sopranos. It'll be like these shows never existed.
2. No one will tell me anything about the seventh Harry Potter book.
3. No one talks about Fight Club.
4. Everything but these 2 (3) things can be relayed to me at your convenience.

"Prudence's Struggle Ends"

For the last two Sundays, the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof has written from a hospital in Yokadouma, Cameroon, located in the far southeast corner of Cameroon in the Est province near the Central African Republic, about a woman dying from complications from a botched birth. Usually I ignore Kristof's articles because his reports on dire situations from third world countries is preaching to the choir with me, and I'd rather read Frank Rich pick apart the Bush administration (preaching to choir, yes, but a lot more entertaining). However, I've had to read Kristof's columns since I saw the Cameroon byline. The gist of the article from today's paper is that rural females in Cameroon, and in developing countries in general, are cruelly ignored:

"Neither Western donor countries like the U.S. nor poor recepients like Cameroon care much about Africans who are poor, rural, and female, and so half a million such women die each year around the world in pregnancy. It's not biology that kills them so much as neglect."

Kristof continues by connecting the lack of funding for maternal health care for poor women to abortion politics:

"Neither left nor right has focused adequately on maternal health. And abortion politics have distracted all sides from what is really essential: a major aid campaign to improve midwifery, prenatal care and emergency obstetric services in poor countries."

He then cites the examples of Sri Lanka and Honduras, poor countries that have decreased maternal mortality drastically.

... feat. Timbaland

Wow, the posts are coming nonstop from all angles as I struggle to fit everything in before I leave. Semi-busy farewell weekend is coming up: finishing up the TDL, dinner with Ms. Corgel, Tim visiting, eating all my favorite foods, hanging out with Jenee and Ian (they don't know this yet, but I am assuming they are assuming I will hang out with them), calling a bunch of people, watching as much TV as possible, etc. Oh, yeah, I have to pack sometime in between all of this.

Awkward segueway..... okay. Here's my list of my fav. songs from the summer in no particular order:

1. The Roots, "Here I Come"
2. The Eels, "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" (Prince cover)
3. Cee-Lo, "Soul Machine"
4. Fergie, "London Bridge"
5. Justin Timberlake, "LoveStoned"
6. The Killers, "When We Were Young"
7. Tom Petty, "Listen To Her Heart"
8. Arctic Monkeys, "Fake Tales of San Francisco"
9. Whiskeytown, "Dancing with the Women at the Bar"
10. Rufus Wainwright, "One Man Guy"
11. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, "Let It Ride"
12. T.I., "What You Know"
13. Leonard Cohen, "So Long, Marianne"
14. Gnarls Barkley, "Just A Thought"
15. Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland, "Promiscuous"
16. The Fray, "Over My Head"

Honorables: Death Cab For Cutie, "Crooked Teeth"; Pearl Jam, "World Wide Suicide"; Dangerdoom feat. Talib Kweli, "Old School"; Keane, "Is It Any Wonder?"; Blind Faith, "Presence of the Lord"

The Wick Is Lit.

I'm a genius. I just saw on the crawl on ESPN that the Braves have extended Bob Wickman's contract for a year! Okay, only eight more things to do to improve the team.




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*** A must-read article from Sports Illustrated profiling Pat Tillman.

FAACTCBSIR, Part 2 - Team Awards

Click here for Part 1 of the FAACTCBSIR. Now onto team awards! Woohoo!

Braves MVP
1A. Andruw Jones
1B. John Smoltz
2. Edgar - Hasn't stopped hitting since April
3. Chipper - Dude hit .500 for almost an entire month
4. McCann
5. Laroche - Really has come around in the second half
6. Wickman

Braves Least Valuble Player
1. Chris Reitsma
2. Tim Hudson
3. Marcus Giles

Honorable Mention: Ryan Langerhans

Braves Cy Young
1. Smoltz
2. James
3. Wickman

Honorable Mention: Any semi-successful middle reliever (Paronto, McBride)

Rookie of the Year
1. Chuck James by default

Best Acquisition
1. Edgar
2. The Wick

Most Likely To Not Improve Next Year
1. Langerhans
2. Francoeur

Okay, I'm reaching here. It's hard to give out awards to an unremarkable, mediocre team.

FAACTCBSIR, Part 1 - Next Year

Welcome to the First Annual A Chopper To Chipper Braves Season In Review (FAACTCBSIR for short)! Right now the Braves are in the middle of hard fought complete waste of time series with the Nationals, so it seems like an approriate time for the FAACTCBSIR.

I'm Keith Hernandez
This season is the culmination of John Schuerholz's, and Bobby Cox to an extent, "I'm Keith Hernandez!" attitude for the last few years. There's a lot of reasons why the Braves were caught with their pants down this season, and Schuerholz has seemed ready for exactly none of them. Here are some reasons for their decline:

1) The Mets - They spent their shitload of money wisely, and they are easily the best team in the National League.
2) Ownership Issues - The Braves basically don't have an owner right now, so the financial situation is iffy at best.
3) Bullpen - Thought they could find another Kerry Lightenberg after Smoltz returned to the rotation, but then found out it's kinda hard to replace one of the most dominant closers of all time.
4) Starting Pitching - Other than Smoltz and Chuck James, who has been consistent/healthy?
5) Injuries - Chipper has turned into the Nomar of the Braves: He's awesome when he's healthy, but he's only good for about 100-120 games max per season. Also, the entire pitching staff has been hurt.
6) Mike Hampton - Hear that? That's money being flushed down the toilet.
7) False Hope - Trading Wilson Betemit is the worst decision Schuerholz made all year, other than continuing to pitch Chris Freakin' Reitsma over and over again. Willy Aybar and Danny Baez for the best player not starting in the NL? The writing was on the wall when this deal was made. The Braves were done at the end of July, and Schuerholz was the only one that didn't know. It's was clear that this wasn't the Braves' year, with too many teams in the wild card race and the Amazin's dominating the NL East.
8) Pitching Prospects - Chuck James and ...? I will give Schuerholz the benefit of the doubt a little bit here with Ramirez and Kyle Davies injured for the most of the season, but who's coming up in the minors?

Basically, the Braves brass need to realize that this team needs to rebuild they are definitely in the place to do that. Here's what needs to be done:

A. Trade Andruw Jones - I give Schuerholz credit for not trading Andruw during the season because no one was really prepared for it. That said, Andruw needs to be traded to get some top prospects - and I mean, TOP. I hate saying it. I love Andruw. I'm going to name my future pet after him (along with Chipper). He really is a lot of fun to watch when you go to Turner Field, he covers so much ground, it's amazing. Man, he's so good. Okay, maybe I don't want to let him go, but I think it might be best given the Braves' financial situation. *sniffle*
B. Trade John Smoltz - Uggh, this is hurting too much, but it needs to be done. The Braves are going to pick up his option for the next season, and when they are mired in mediocrity again, they should trade him to a contender. Can you imagine how much potential playoff teams will want him? Smoltz, the crazy-ass gay-bashing Home Depot-pimping guy that he is, has been the best clutch/playoff player the Braves have had through this whole run. Who pitched Game 7 of the 1991 World Series? Smoltz. And who just pitched eight innings when four days earlier he strained his groin? Smoltz. Like with Andruw, it doesn't make sense not to trade him.
C. Give Tim Hudson whatever Roger Clemens took after leaving Boston - Seriously, what the hell happened? Hudson needs to either spend his offseason "rehabbing" (coughcoughHGHcough) or coming up with a new approach, like what Glavine did this year.
D. Marcus Giles - The fans love him, but he is a dolt. Have you looked into his eyes? I don't think there's anything behind there. He can't bat leadoff, and Edgar is too good batting second, so what to do? Eh, I'm indifferent with 'Cus. With him being a free agent this offseason, the Braves missed their chance to trade him. Throw in one of the pups at 2B.
E. Take a Walk! - Franky, please, I'm going to have a heart attack - err, acid reflux - if you don't work the count next year.
F. Re-sign Wickman - A good move that really stabilized the bullpen. Wow, a real closer. Who knew that could help? Give him a two-year contract, it couldn't hurt.
G. Lock Up The Youngin's - Give Francoeur and McCann (my boy!) long-term contracts while they're relatively cheap, like what the Mets did with Reyes and Wright and Cleveland did with Sizemore. It'll be nice when Andruw and Smoltz are gone and Chipper is using a cane at 3B knowing those two will be around for another four or five years. Give one to Laroche, too?
H. The Third Outfielder - Assuming Andruw is in center and Franky is in RF, who's your third outfielder? Diaz? Langerhans? Those two are complete opposites: Diaz can't field but can hit; Langerhans can't hit but can field. I'm not a big fan of the platooning - which is why I'm glad Laroche is finally the full-time 1B - so I think Bobby needs to stick with one of them. I'm hoping for Diaz. With the pitching in tatters, the Bravos need runs.
I. Get rid of the Tomahawk Chop and that guy on the Jumbotron - The Tomahawk Chop needs to go. It's really offensive, and the franchise needs to move on. The only benefit of the Chop is that, like Chipper Jones, it pisses everyone off who isn't a Braves fan. Makes for good times. And that fat guy with the bad haircut who does the quizzes with the fans between innings on the Jumbotron? He needs to be fired.

Wow, this became a lot longer than I expected. And this is only Part 1! See you for Part 2 in a little bit...

Wahahaho

I was watching Austin City Limits last night because they were replaying an episode that featured The Pixies, and wow, two things:

1) The Pixies are really fucking good. I wish I'd gotten into them sooner than in the past year. They are a pretty crazy band. Odd lyrics, nice melodies, some badass guitar riffs. And their songs are way too short, which probably adds to the appeal. My favorite song of theirs is "Debaser", the first track off of Doolittle, not too risky of a choice for my fav Pixies song, but at least it isn't "Here Comes Your Man" or "Where is my Mind". The song ("Debaser") is based on an old French movie called Un chien andalou from 1929 by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali where, wouldn't you know it, they're slicin' up eyeballs wahahaho (this tidbit is from the Wikipedia site about the song). I just love it when Frank Black screams, "I am un chien adalusia".

2) Austin City Limits is a great show, but I think its time slot (midnight Saturday/Sunday night here in Atlanta) makes the show even better. If you're bored at home on Saturday night, you know you're going to get an interesting show on ACL or at least something that doesn't suck too bad. It attracts some big names now, but it still has that ever elusive indie cred up the wazoo. The show has even manifested itself into a huge music festival.

No Corner Left Behind

* Jeff Francoeur is getting married. I'm glad she said yes because I'm getting tired of Franky striking out.

* Francoeur has struck out in 20% of his at bats, and his strikeout-walk ratio is 6:1. That ratio would be excellent... if he was a pitcher. He's gotten significantly worse this year (he was already declining at the end of last season), with drops in on-base percentange/slugging percentage, average, and no change in the aforementioned strikeout-walk ratio.

* Here's a nice picture of Matt Diaz after the first game of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Phillies.

* I was perusing the NY Times website last night, and I noticed a banner ad for the new season of The Wire, an excellent police drama that follows the drug dealers and the police of Baltimore (Police is pronounced "poe-lease" in the Baltimore vernacular. And get the Edgar Allan Poe reference? I'm on a roll with that and the Francoeur joke.):

No Corner Left Behind, with a picture of the young black kids (drug runners) that have a story arc this season. I wish I could find a picture of it, but it's a nice dig at Bush. Oh, those crazy Hollywood liberals.

* Speaking of Hollywood, here's an op-ed from the Huffington Post adding to the Walt Disney legend of his staunch conservatism and how it has infiltrated everything Disney.

* Speaking of Mickey Mouse, Justin Timberlake's album, BloodSugarSexMagic - oh sorry - FutureSex/LoveSounds, was released this week. And I bought it. And it's good. Like, really good. Here are a couple different (positive) reviews of it, the Village Voice one really hitting the nail on the head by saying that Timberlake seems to be Timbaland's guinea pig. The pairing of those two seemed odd at first until "Cry Me A River" was released as a single, there was that video, and JT dumped Britney Spears for Cameron Diaz. Now it's a genius move on both of their parts.

My favorite tracks so far: "SexyBack," "My Love" feat. T.I., and "LoveStoned."

* I'm going to see Invincible tonight. There was no way I was going to let Snakes On A Plane be the last movie I saw before leaving.

* Notre Dame v. Michigan and LSU v. Auburn on at the same time tomorrow! It's going to be a good Saturday afternoon.

PC - Information Overload

So, I began crossing off things on my "to do" list (I need to come up with a better way to say that: TDL? Okay, it's done. TDL.) So, I began crossing things off on my TDL - wait, I have to stop right now: Arnold Schawraznegegager is on Monday Night Football. I think Ahnuld just told Joe Theismann, "You're fired." (True Lies, anyone?) Okay, Maria Sharapova is on Letterman at the same time, and it's impossible to not watch that... there's just too much going on, which is the point I'm trying to make here:

I'm reading too many packing lists. They're really helpful and are giving me good ideas, but I need to soak all of it in and decide what's best for me. The best advice one of the sites (out of two that I'm going to link, but I've seen a lot more) had is the following:

Divide the things you plan to take into three piles: (1) absolute necessities (2) necessities and close to necessities and (3) luxury items. Absolute necessities should not exceed the weight limit specified by Peace Corps. If the absolute necessities pile does exceed the weight limit reduce the pile until it no longer exceeds the weight limit. Take half of the items from the absolute necessities pile. Take nothing from the necessities and close to necessities pile. Take one or two items from the luxury pile.

Nos vemos if I'll actually do that, but being organized is the key. Here are the links to the packing lists:

so it goes: peace corps packing list - This is part of an awesome PC blog. Really check out the other parts of the site, it's good.

What Should I Bring to Peace Corps - An extensive list in different categories like "most useful item", etc., from PC volunteers in different countries. I'm paying the most attention to The Gambia and Togo lists, as they are close to Cameroon. You knew that, right?

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GWB said in an interview with Katie Couric (who really gives a rats ass about her doing the news, by the way?) the following: "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror. "

Take a second.

Soak it in.

Should it really be that hard? Shouldn't that tell you something?

PC - Final flight info and my "to do" list

My departure date is staring me in the face. I leave Atlanta September 27, the country September 29, and I arrive in Cameroon September 30. Here's how it works:

I fly to Philadelphia Wednesday morning (9/27) for two days of "Staging", which is what the PC calls orientation. In Philly, I meet the other volunteers and have to go to a bunch of seminars, with names such as "A Slice of Life: Coping with Unwanted Attention," "Personal Definition of Success," and "Crossing Cultures". I also have to get any shots that I need the morning of departure.

Friday night (9/29) I fly from the Illadelph to Paris. Sadly, we're only in Paris for 90 minutes instead of the two weeks I was hoping for. From gay Paris, we fly to Yaounde via Douala, arriving in Cameroun (French spelling) at 5:50 PM September 30. We'll be travelling in an Airbus A340-300, so stop asking already!

I have a list of things I need to do to get ready in the next two weeks or so, some of which include:

• Optometrist - I need two pairs of glasses (no contacts - I'm gonna be a goggle-face for two years), and I'm thinking of getting either prescription sunglasses or one of those clip-on things if I'm feeling especially dorky.
• Shoes - I need a sturdy and comfortable pair of shoes that I can use for both work and walking around. Also, a new pair of tennis shoes/sneakes/kicks, whatever you want to call it.
• A couple of shirts that can be used for work and play
• A bottle of Sex Panther, it's illegal in nine countries and is guaranteed to work 60% of the time all the time.
• A pair of pants, preferably darker than normal khaki and made of light fabric
• New socks, underwear, undershirts, etc.

The list really isn't too long, or at least not as a long as I thought. A lot of things I can get over there, and I'm pretty set on luggage (bought a suitcase Friday). I'm more worried about forgetting something I already have than buying a whole lot of new things.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I can bring a total of 80 pounds of checked baggage.

I'll keep posting as I get closer and when things pop into my head. It sounds like I have a lot to do, but I really have a lot of free time on my hands (way too much, actually). It's just the stress of leaving that's the real obstacle.

As for right now, I'm going to watch the OSU-Texas game, think about Notre Dame's stomping of Penn State, and laugh to myself about Juventus barely getting a tie in their first Serie B game.