Savory Spice Shop hits Boulder

Back in 2004, I was strolling down Platte St. in Denver when I came across a newly opened spice shop. I love to cook, and I'm always on the lookout for cool new things around cooking, so I went in. The owners, Mike and Janet, were both there and made me feel right at home in the shop. I browsed around and felt very comfortable asking questions about what I was seeing on the shelves. They had a lot of spices I'd never seen before, and there were quite a few homemade spice blends as well. I left the store after buying several new spices, and decided that I'd found my new, exclusive supplier of herbs and spices. The fact that their prices are comparably priced to even the big supermarket chains was a plus, but their spices were the freshest and highest quality I'd ever seen. After I moved, I found myself going to Boulder more often than Denver with one exception: my regular pilgrimages to Savory Spice Shop to restock my spice shelf. I seemed to always find some new blend as well, so it was always worth the trip. Not too long ago, I was there talking with Dan, one of the employees, who told me that Mike and Janet were looking to expand to Boulder (they had previously expanded and added a Littleton store), and I got super psyched. On Friday I stopped in to the new Boulder store at 2041 Broadway. It's a great store, and they've even added a line of organic spices. The space is bright and comfortable, just like the Denver store, and it has that same warmth to which I'd grown accustomed. Dan is the owner of the Boulder store, and he's doing a great job. The store was hopping, so it seems that Savory Spice Shop Boulder is going to be a hit. If you are looking for spices and live in the Denver/Littleton/Boulder area, you should check them out... and tell them that Todd sent you. ;-)

On an unrelated topic, I grow increasingly frustrated with the lack of the world's response to China's repression of its own citizens as well as Tibetans and its support of the military junta in Burma and the support it lends to the corrupt government in Sudan. For years people thought there was nothing to be done about apartheid in South Africa. It wasn't until American citizens got serious and started leading boycotts against companies that were doing business in South Africa that the rest of the world started taking notice. I can remember news headlines about how much Coca-Cola lost in revenues after people stopped buying Coke until they pulled out of South Africa. So when are we going to do the same to companies that do business in China? It's beyond time for us to stop putting bumper stickers on our cars with the latest slogan and pretending we've done all we can. It's time to actually do things... to paraphrase Gandhi, it's time for us to be the change we want to see in the world.

Candle4Tibet reflections

The light protest went really, really well. Aaron was all kinds of excited to be a part of it, even more so when Channel 4 News showed up; not that he wanted to be on t.v., but more that he knew that what he was doing was actually being noticed, that it wasn't just for the sake of a few tourists that happened to be walking by.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take part in the Sad Smoky Mountains campaign like I wanted to. I called the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks to talk about it, and was told that, while they understood the situation and empathized, at the same time, they couldn't grant me permission to light the flares due to the fire ban on the mountain. I was disappointed, to be sure, but I get it, and so it goes.

I did get a Tibetan flag and had it up today outside of my house before 1:00, just before the Olympics officially kicked off. Not only am I not going to watch the Olympics, I am going to make it a point to fly the Tibetan flag every day of the Olympics. Raising the flag of Tibet - even owning one - is illegal in Tibet and can be punished with imprisonment. I am also going to contact the Tibetan Association of Colorado to see what, if anything, they will be doing during the DNC and how I can be involved.

For dinner last night, I made a Tibetan dish called "momos." Momos are basically steamed dumplings. I decided to make vegetarian ones, and I have to say, they were pretty spiffy. I'm thinking I might make more Tibetan food this week, but I don't want to kill it; Tibetan food is really good and fairly simple, but I don't think Kyle would be impressed with a solid week's worth of Tibetan food.

A little activism now and then

I mentioned the Candle4Tibet event in an earlier entry, and today I found out that the Tibetan community in Boulder (and surrounding area) will be holding an event in support of it on Thursday night. I stopped by the Tibet Gallery to pick up two Tibetan flags, and the owner of the shop, my friend, Tenzin, told me that the members of the Tibetan Association of Colorado were holding the event and that he would call me on Wednesday with all of the details.

I'm going to fly the big flag outside of my house for a week starting on Friday in protest of the Beijing Olympics. I have also chosen to not watch the Olympics as part of my protest. Originally I had planned on taking part in the Sad Smoky Mountains and Skyscrapers event by lighting a red smoke flare on top of Flagstaff Mountain on Friday, but I'd forgotten that I have to be at work at 1:00, so I can't do it. Instead, I'm going to attach the small Tibetan flag to my backpack and keep it there for the week of the Olympics. Once the event is over, the large flag will likely adorn a wall in my house while the small flag may end up on my desk in my classroom. (*Update: Just got an email this morning (Aug. 5), that setting off my smoke flare from 6-8 pm would also be good, so it looks like its back on... woohoo!)

I really hope that the election in November will bring us an administration that will speak up on behalf of the Tibetan people. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have claimed a desire to address the situation; I sincerely hope they will be men of their words and not back away in favor of big business and the almighty dollar that Chinese business brings. Some things are far more important than money.

My third oldest son (Aaron) started college today. I'm really proud of him for following through and taking on the challenge of college. It helped that he's decided he hates his grocery store job, but it's still strange for me to think that I have three adult sons, and one entering high school. Four more years and I'll have an empty house... very strange! I took the boys out to dinner tonight and he stated his desire to participate in the Candle4Tibet event with me. I think he was a bit surprised to see "Activist Dad" swinging into action, and with his love and desire to do something, this was his opportunity for time with me and for a chance to make a statement about an issue. I'm really looking forward to having him there.

Ouch and a Candle4Tibet

I have FINALLY gotten to go rock climbing! Ironically, the
injury photos that are here aren't from the actual climb. They are from the hike down afterwards. Overall, the day was great. I met up with two recent graduates, a student who moved to the midwest, and one of the members of the climbing team, and together with my son and his best friend, we headed up to Boulder Canyon for a few hours.

The day was perfect. We got there early enough in the morning that it hadn't gotten really hot yet, so that really helped. We knocked out a couple of climbs, and then around noon decided that it was getting hot, so it was time to go. That's when
the fun began.

About halfway down the trail, there is what is called a talus field; basically a big section of rocks. I was the last one over it, and I guess I wasn't paying full attention, because the next thing I knew, down I went. I pitched forward and landed on my knees and right arm. Not a lot of fun. I actually hit my arm hard enough that I thought maybe I'd broken it, so I rolled over on my back and took a few seconds to make sure I was okay. I did a quick scan and realized that nothing was broken, which was a pretty huge relief. I got up and finished the hike down, then we headed home.

I still can't believe that school starts in less than a month. Wow... this summer went by incredibly quickly!! I'm still working on getting podcasts together, and I haven't had much of a chance to experiment with my Smart Board.

In other news, on August 7th, I would like to encourage everyone reading this to light a candle for Tibet. It's part of a campaign to get 100,000,000 people to light candles the night before the Olympics starts to remind people of what is happening to Tibet and the Tibetan people. It is a nonviolent, global public statement that will help to remind our world leaders that we have not forgotten Tibet. There is also a social network on Ning (which was mentioned during our Global Learners training... see?! I was paying attention!), which I would also encourage people to join. The time to light the candle is 9:00 p.m. local time (whichever time zone that may be). If our world leaders won't do it, someone needs to show them how.

World Tibet Day

World Tibet Day is this weekend. Basically it's a day of celebration of the Tibetan culture and an observance of the birthday of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama's birthday. Boulder's celebration of it is tomorrow, and I'm pretty psyched about it. Kyle has to work all day tomorrow, so he had to miss it, but Blake and I will be able to go since Blake only has to work two hours. I think it's going to be a LOT of fun.

In other news, things with the Robert Thurman event are going pretty well. Endangered Species Chocolate has signed on as a sponsor of the event, which is really cool of them, and has moved them up into my favorite chocolate company. It was already pretty cool that they donate 10% of their profits to environmental causes, and now they've demonstrated that they are about a lot more than just that. Very cool of them. Prana and the Gaia Community have also expressed interest, which is really encouraging. I'm really excited about being able to meet and talk with Professor Thurman. By all accounts, he's a pretty amazing man.

I didn't get to do any climbing this week (argh!), but I did get some yoga and lots of bike riding in (yay!). Maybe Sunday will be my big chance to get on the rocks (crosses fingers). Let's hope! In the meantime... I'm off to enjoy some fireworks.