Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Hastiness and Hope

Both only seem to bring disappointment to my life.

First, so much for this administration laying the groundwork and forging a strong, long-term policy for this area. By the way, does anyone know what India’s capabilities are for enriching uranium? Given how much uranium is littered across and under Afghanistan, how come not too many people are talking about this with regards to long-term policy? It’s not like it’s unknown how much uranium is in the area. But the Slate.com article didn’t bring much hope today.

And as for hastiness, I think I’m gonna have to figure out a way around our new inventory control list for DHL packages. If I was only more patient with getting the books. Though I’m sure the new Apple hi-fi, isn’t as glorious as it purports to be, my skepticism largely coming from a box that small and self-contained being able to create a good soundstage. It’s just about the ideal solution (size, assumed quality, and price) for high quality audio when stuck temporarily in a compound in the third world. It’ll surely beat my $10, locally acquired, Altec Lansing speakers. So any suggestions on how audiophile equipment will help build capacity, develop gov’t institutions and encourage democratic civil society? Buzzwords people, buzzwords. Those are the terms in which I’ll describe it on the DHL inventory list.

**And then there was this article in Wednesday morning's WaPo. Bush is coming to Kabul in two or so days, I believe. Despite the recent announcement of pulling out troops from the south, hopefully he'll make some productive commitment to this country. Wait, what was that line I typed at the top of the post? Maybe if I get the iPodHiFi and crank it up, I wont hear the IEDs going off down the street.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooooh, I have speaker lust. Er... clearly you need to take a rights-based approach to speaker acquisition.

But is it worth it given your imminent departure?

NegativeMode said...

That iPodHiFi looks nice. It will certainly sound better than that crap speaker set-up BrownBear had at your old digs. Talk about third world....

quasim said...

VP,
Sorry, but those speakers, especially at only $350USD, don't deserve lust. Red Rose speakers, those deserve lusting after.

And, what, you're telling me 3 weeks of, comparative, audio bliss, isn't worth the price?

N-mode,
Yeah, of course Apple made a damn fine looking product. Certainly better than those soup cans BrownBear had. Funny, he wasn't willing to give those to me as I came here, my justification was that he would be making a sacrafice to mankind through helping me be more comfortable here. For some reason he didn't buy that, nor even give a damn about my noble sacrafice and helping these folks out.

Anonymous said...

You can tell I'm a real aid worker... with some $50 Creative speakers, which, incidentally, I thought was a luxury. And I don't know about the other Red Rose thingos. How the fuck are they meant to fit into my 35 kg limit of belongings I have? Not something for the global nomad, I'm afraid.

If you want the speakers, you can ask Chris to get them in Delhi tomorrow, and Basira, another a colleague of mine is flying back on the weekend... You could have it by then.

quasim said...

It's not necessarily that you are a real aid worker, just maybe that you aren't a self-indulgent juvenille consumer. And if I ever own a pair of Red Rose speakers, I will always find a way to get them to where ever i'm posted.

Thank you for the offer on behalf of Chris, but a) i really wouldnt make him lug that thing for me, b) there is no apple store in Delhi (i actually checked, closest is in Japan), c) if i'm getting new speakers, i've had my eye on a much much more practical solution, and may get someone from the home office to figure out a way to get them to me.

Also, I checked to see if Apple will ship to Kabul, they wont, and they wont even ship to an APO address. Hmph.

Anonymous said...

If you can wait until June, I can bring it over. Or I can buy it and ship it to your APO address...if I can put some of my stuff in there too - I am trying to find a way to get my books/clothes over to Kabul by June.

So, what started off as an altruistic gesture, ended up as a trade.

quasim said...

Thank you for the offer. But i'll probably hold off for now. And we private contractors aren't given an APO address, I'd be up for the deal, but it's a no go.

Was it ever really altruistic? Really, how long did it take you to go from "i'll send it" to "and i can send my own stuff"??

Another friend may be coming here in about a month, and he'll have an APO. I may make use of that and will see if he's cool w/ sharing.

Anonymous said...

It was altruistic for a good thirty seconds, maybe even 45, and then I realized that I could put my own stuff in the box...
:)

quasim said...

I think I too would have taken about 30 to 45 seconds, except that my thoughts would have gone in the inverse route...