This is very typical of the sky in Beijing – except you can see the sun. There is a constant foggy pollution (the term “smog” just seems so dated) that is everywhere. It is a different kind of pollution than the choking smokiness of Ulaanbaatar. Sometimes it is so bad that flights are grounded because of the reduced visibility.

It took a few takes to get this one of a jet right in line with the sun. Notice the reflections – the white areas – that could be touched up.

I shot a little video too but they would have come out much better with a tripod.

They have two locations. We went to the one on Rama 3. They have seating for a good 700 or more people but we were ther on a Monday night so the place wasn’t packed. They open at 5 PM and close around midnight so no early afternoon or lunch time drinks from them. We arrived just after they opened and stayed a few hours. We passed the time tasting their beer, having dinner, killing a cockroach, and enjoying the live music.

They have three beers on tap. Their lager was very nice. It was smooth and just a little hoppy. Their website says it runs at 5%. The Weizen had a very pleasant fruit taste. After the 90 degree weather outside it even seemed right to put a lemon in. We tried to order one but got a lime instead which wasn’t quite the right taste. It runs at 5.5% alcohol by volume. Finally they have a Dunkel which was perhaps one of the smoother dark beers I have had. It had a lower alcohol content at only 4.5% but I made up for it by ordering the glass as big as my head.

Speaking of big serving sizes, they also sell their beer in the towers so it is a nice place to go if you have friends that all like the same kind of beer. I like my beer cold though so one liter of beer is usually enough for starters.

Aside from the small cockroach we had a great time – the food was good, the beer excellent, and the entertainment definitely entertaining.

We have an eleven hour delay in Beijing on our way home to Mongolia.  We were supposed to have a two hour connection.  This happened on my last trip to China.  It seems to be a regular thing.  Today is Mother’s day and Pepper would really rather be home with Jordan father than trying to pass hours and hours in an airport.  Fortunately there are not constant announcements about flights or not parking in green zones.  Plus there are benches and lounge chairs that allow for sleeping.  Sadly Facebook is blocked so we can’t pass time on there.

Sure, for Mother’s day I could have ordered her a t-shirt or mug that says “World’s best mom!” But it is time I stopped acting 10. (Well, except for when I’m playing with Jordan.) No, this year I’ll write about what a great mom I have.

I remember in 1986 having a childhood Transformers action figures addiction. She kept track of which ones I had – I recall her going through the shelves of the boxed toys seeking any I didn’t already have. She made sure I had every single one she could find.

As an adult, she would drive most of the day to pick me up after meetings in Washington DC to get me “home.”

One time I must have been acting irritable while driving somewhere. She didn’t say anything and just pulled into a Burger King drive thru and ordered my favorite sandwiches. She knew what I needed.

Since I have lived far from home for so long she has sent me countless “care packages.” I remember them while at scout camp, while in Alaska, and certainly even this year. She knows to tuck in Twizzlers.

At Christmas this year everyone in the family commented about what a great job she did in choosing presents. She must have a tattered piece of paper in her purse where she jots down ideas for people as they comment on something.

She still manages to send cards for holidays and birthdays. In one year I probably get more cards from her than I have sent her in my life.

I know that raising the three of us wasn’t easy. And I’m sure we still do things that she wishes we didn’t. But she’s incredibly supportive of us. It is comforting to know mom will always be there for us.

I love you mom.

Pepper needs medical treatment.  It isn’t something available in Mongolia so we chose Thailand because of the high quality care compared to the cost.  Cost?  Oh yes, we are fairly certain that it won’t be covered at all by our insurance company.  In my thirteen years of “adult” jobs where I have had medical insurance I have grown more and more cynical about the relationship between insurance and health care.  They are nearly unrelated.  This surgery will probably cost more than a quarter of one of our salaries.  But we know that investing in our health is more important than our bank accounts.

I wasn’t going to join her but our boss urged me to be there for her.  I may not have any leave available now and the airfare wasn’t cheap but if we can’t take care of each other when we really need it then we have our priorities wrong.  Jordan is in the care of our friends and, I am sure, will have perhaps too many surrogate moms and dads looking out for him this week.

On Monday she will have blood tests done and then the surgery Tuesday.  She will be in the hospital on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  Then she needs to have a follow-up later in the week.  Hopefully we’re able to return on Sunday. 

So if you pray keep her in mind.  It is all a little scary.

I have done simple work like using beads to make a necklace or bracelet. I miss that simple therapeutic threading of beads onto a string, sinew, or hemp cord. My favorites usually included the claws or teeth of animals too. Twenty years ago I even wore some to school on occasion.

A more difficult method of beadwork uses a loom. I think I only ever did one loom piece – I guess I didn’t like doing the work much, but at the core I shied away since the natives in the Northeastern US did not use looms for their beadwork.

Perhaps my favorite was applique style beading. You could create your own designs similar to working with a loom but you really could “color outside the lines” as well. I actually sewed and appliqued a medicine bag for a friend in college. Otherwise I think that all the work I did was for my own personal use.

I think I would like to bring some beads back when I return to Mongolia in the fall. They are small, lightweight and an easy project that could be done quickly or give many hours of therapeutic work. As far as I can tell, beading is not a Mongolian art form. Many items are embroidered from the countryside but beads do not seem prevalent at all.

One morning we woke to heavy snow coming down and so I got up early and wandered through the monastery.

Thursday we picked up this little Siamese kitten from a friend.  She was the runt (although not much smaller) of the litter.  She was instantly at ease with Mitten who also seemed fine with the presence of a small autonomous toy.

For a decade I have been anticipating the scouts to change their policies. Some friends that are gay that have asked me how I could have been involved in an organization that held such a position regarding people that are gay. I guess I just feel like it is about time that I wasn’t just waiting for the organization to change. I need to say that I think the policy should be changed.

I worked at scout camps every summer from the year I was 14 through 20. I am an Eagle Scout. I was a scoutmaster. I worked at Philmont for a summer. I received the Vigil honor, Founder’s Award and Distinguished Service Award from the Order of the Arrow. I went to a national jamboree and a world jamboree.

I absolutely loved scouting.

But I am hesitant to have my 12 year old son involved in scouting. Solely because of the entrenched anti-gay sentiment that the organization has stuck to.

A number of friends that I made while in scouting are gay or bisexual. They were raised with similar heterosexual leaders as I had.

I understand and respect the decisions that a private organization may make. I am just disappointed that an organization that taught me to “help other people at all times” and made me pledge that I would be “mentally awake” still retains such a discriminatory practice.

In the words of Lord Baden Powell… Scouting’s “aim is to produce healthy, happy, helpful citizens, of both sexes, to eradicate the prevailing narrow self interest, personal, political sectarian and national, and to substitute for it a broader spirit of self-sacrifice and service in the cause of humanity”