Think your tough?
My friend just sent me the story of a 73 year old Kenyan man who killed a leapord who attacked him by sticking down his hand down the leopards mouth and ripping out his tongue! You really have to read it to believe it.

Mangoes
I think I officially decided to never live anywhere again where mangos aren’t available in abundance. Not only is the fruit ridicously delicious but the places its grows are marked by a warm client and even warmer people. The only possible exception I may make is for Chicago and my beloved Cubbies.

Thank you
Ever since my blog was featured on the Thunderbird’s main site I have received a number of very thoughtful emails which have been very supportive of the work I have been trying to do here. I just wanted to say a sincere thanks. Your kind works and support trully mean a lot. I just feel blessed to have the opportunity to be here.

Thunderblog.org
I’ve been playing around with the idea of creating a small directory site of T-Birds who have blogs. Since we are scattered all over the world, I thought maybe it would be intesting. I’ve already registered Thunderblog.org and will likely try and get something up in the coming month. In the mean time, if you are a T-Bird and have a blog you’d like to share later please let me know.

Book Suggestions?
My parents are coming to visit in 3 weeks. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good book or two I should have them pickup?

Dakar: Through the Lens of Sharon Stark
The following is perhaps the most eloquent description I have found of Senegalese culture so far.

Senegal is a complex, open and generally stable society, less than five
decades after independence from colonialism under France.
Dakar, the capital, is a cosmopolitan city thriving despite struggling
with material want and against the stereotyped notion of Africans as
hopeless basket cases. There is no famine here. There is no AIDs crisis.
No genocide. Dakar is peopled with individuals who are extracting every
last drop of hope and hard-earned profit from a still-difficult economy.
And they do it with a quiet - sometimes fierce - dignity seen in their
eyes; with, perhaps, a graceful hand gesture, or kind word, or bawdy wit;
or with an outfit which may in fact be the only piece of fashionable
clothing a person owns, but impeccably turned out.

Here, then, are a handful of images from modern-day Dakar, balancing
individual dignity, a rich cultural heritage, and desires fueled by
ever-present globalization.

[Thanks, Wayan for the link]