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FROM A SEP 2006 TRIP Having spent the last three days in Fort Lauderdale, Florida I just want to say - maybe global warming isn't all that bad - if it holds the promise that someday California's pacific waters will someday be at the same wonderful temperature as the Fort's. I've decided I'm going to do my bit by buying a Hummer instead of one of those retrograde hybrids The last time I was here around thanksgiving last year, the town was still recovering from Rita (i think it was Rita) with (literally) tons of uprooted palm trees and shredded shrubs, blue tarp covered blown-away roofs and everyone had a story to tell. There's little sign of the damage now: the roads are once again lined wih palm trees - many supported by funny looking splints ... read more

So I had a great day in Key West yday. I'm beginning to see why people like it so much. Its like Vegas in a Caribbean setting without the casinos. Its like San Francisco without the fog and lots more palm trees. Its like Memphis without...actually its not a bit like Memphis :) Life in Key West is a little surreal...and thats why I like it. If I'd written this blog at midnight yday night I'd have said, after two days in KW, the closest embrace I've had to a living being is with a female python - double ugh - just kidding :) (about both). Here's something I discovered, a python/boa's skin feels like a really expensive leather purse...really it does. And I'm not kidding about that. Because everything in KW is open till 4:00am ... read more

CITIES I'VE SEEN. CITIES I'VE FELT. I love cities. Love them. Specially those cities which have been around long enough and have been successful enough to have climbed from the bottom rung of Maslow's Need Hierarchy ladder to a point where they are not just about making money or just getting by but also about something more - something that characterizes them and gives them a personality of their own. I've been lucky enough to have spent time - months, years or even just days in some of nicest ones...and some of the not-so-nice ones. And then there's Tokyo - a city that I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with, for several years. Tokyo was the first city outside India that I saw way back in a different century - in the spring ... read more