Whew, January 2009 has definitely been a month of "best of times, worst of times." I have to admit, I'm pretty glad it's about over.

We joined the rest of the world in celebrating the Coronation of Barack Obama on January 20. (Yay, stem cell research! Yay, an intelligent person in the Oval Office! Yay, attention to climate change! Yay, End of an Error!) We hosted a couchsurfer from Indianapolis. He'd helped with the Obama campaign in his home state, and was excited about waking up at 4am, waiting in the dark for a few hours, and then standing in the freezing cold for a few more hours with the huddled masses to observe this historical moment in person. We watched it on TV from the comfort of our warm, cozy house. Still, it was a wonderful event to witness, and it'll be nice to be able to travel without having to automatically apologize for being an Amerkan. And how cool to have a Chief Executive who understands the power of Web 2.0, for a change.

The celebration was marred by the passing of Mark's dad, who had a stroke in early January and never fully regained consciousness. We spent some time in Connecticut for the funeral and helping Mark's mom get things in order. Not a fun time, needless to say, and it brought back a lot of sad memories for me. However, it was nice to see friends and family and get a chance to celebrate John Schramm's life. He had just taken a business trip to China and seemed energized by that endeavor, so I'm glad he was able to go out on a high note.

In the "not-so-monumental but still reaaaaaally fun" category, and because I can't leave you on such a morose note, we got a chance to see one of our favorite bands last night at one of our favorite DC venues. Thievery Corporation rarely plays gigs in DC anymore, but they played the first of FIVE back-to-back sold-out shows at the 9:30 Club last night. As always, the show was spectacular. If you ever get a chance to see these guys live, go for it! Their latest album, Radio Retaliation, contains the usual eclectic mix of Jamaican, Indian, African, Latin, and Middle Eastern beats and melodies. It's goooood stuff.

It's happening at a glacial pace, but I *am* making some progress in uploading pics and stories to this site. I recently reached a milestone: finally got all the Bangkok stuff posted! Those of you who are email subscribers will already be aware of this, as you've been getting handy little notices when a new post goes up. But for the rest of you ::cough:slackers:: here's a quick guide to what's been posted lately:

PICTURES
* all Bangkok photos are here
* they're also broken down into more manageable categories such as
  - Grand Palace and Wat Pho
  - Chachoengsao
  - Loy Krathong
  - Pattaya
  - Samut Prakan
  - the rest of Bangkok, including pics from Ma Tuk's house, several markets, and lots of food!
* oh, and Singapore pics are up too

BLOG POSTS
* all Bangkok posts in one big-ass chunk
* First taste of Bangkok
* Chachoengsao and a river cruise
* Happy Loy Krathong!
* Not-so-divine comedy
* Party time, excellent!
* Cul-cha, and a bit of seedy underbelly
* Both ends of the spectrum in Samut Prakan
* all Singpore blog posts are here

So have a read, and let us know what you think! We love reading your comments and questions. And thanks to the eagle-eyed folks who have pointed out incorrect links and other bugs. This QA is much appreciated, and helps us know that someone's actually paying attention to what we write here. ;)

Oy vey, all this murky grey weather we've been having lately is seriously kicking my ass! Makes me feel like we're living in the cover of an Opeth album, and who doesn't want a dose of everyone's favorite Swedish death metal band while they're slogging through January? I know, I know, hope is just around the corner with all the Inauguration festivities, but in the meantime it's been a struggle just to get out of bed in the morning.

And just to pile it on a bit more, Mark and I have decided to reprise the juice fast/detox diet we did last spring. We both really need to purge some of the extra weight and bad habits we've fallen back into after a month of gluttony in SE Asia and then another month of gluttony for the holidays. This time around, we're doing it a bit differently. Rather than following the 21-day Martha's Vineyard diet to the letter, like we did last year, we're going to try something a bit more sustainable that incorporates some solid foods along with all the slurm. The focus will still be on fresh fruits and veggies in juice format, and lots of water and green tea, along with the occasional salad here and there. No coffee, no alcohol, no processed foods. Well, we might give ourselves a hall pass for the Inauguration celebration... it IS a historic event, after all!

Have any great raw foods recipes? I'd LOVE to see 'em! The biggest challenge last time was sheer boredom, so if we can manage to get a bit more creative this time, I think we'll have something. The plan is to do the stricter part of the program for three weeks or so, and then start incorporating other healthy foods gradually into the mix, while still focusing on a mostly-veggie diet for the long term. And hopefully this will become a sustainable blueprint for a healthy lifestyle, as opposed to a fleeting New Year's resolution that quickly crumbles into a pile of pretzel bags and empty wine bottles. So we'll see how it goes. Wish us luck!

Related posts:
* 2008 Detox results