hang ten.

i can't handle fiction right now. so as much as I am amused by smith's white teeth, i'm putting it on hold to read let my people go surfing (see right). the last time paulix came to visit, he left me a copy next to my ipod speakers and, since i was in the throes of finals, i didn't discover it for a couple of weeks.

"wot's this??" i asked outloud, in my worst scottish accent, as i pulled the book from my shelf. i looked around my tiny apartment and for a split second, i thought that paul had come to new york for the weekend to surprise me. "paul? are you here?" no answer. just to make sure, i checked my bathtub; the only place in my apartment that a grown man could be hiding. (a phone call, later, verified that paul was still in dc.) in the meantime, i also found paul's shirt, which had been hanging on my closet door since his visit. only then did i realize how truly isolated i get during exams.

anyways... the point is... i love this book, and i'm only fifty pages into it. it's written by yvon chouinard, the founder of patagonia (the outdoor clothing company). i'll write more about the book once i'm through, so i can really do it justice. for now, i will say that if you're interested in social entrepreneurship, this is definitely an amazing case study of a company that has managed to marry financial profitability with environmental and social responsibility. and have some fun in the meantime.

***

speaking of which, it seems my surfing aspirations might actually materialize this summer. so far, the tentative summer itinerary includes a short trip to lombok, an island east of bali, which apparently has some excellent waves. i will also be taking orders for indonesian cat poop coffee beans, if anyone is interested, as i think i'm spending a weekend at the losari coffee plantation. i actually don't know if they have cat poop coffee, but i vow to search high and low to bring this indonesian delicacy to the united states.