GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

Bike Friday Desert Camp 2010 is done and dusted. Check out the full montymedia . I should say "done and frosted" - for the first time in my 7 years of attending this camp, the weather was chilly and ominous, threatening to force us jointly and severally into the luxe sag wagon. Which of course we did - the tour leaders scooped us up in the van as we struggled along in amazing Scott-in-the-Antarctic headwinds.  Just look at this sky ... I taught a morning yoga class each morning and in the afternoon on 2 occasions. It was quite an eye opener to note very fit cyclists struggling with even basic flexibility - which makes me even more determined to develop my cyclists' yoga class ... I held the class form 7-7.30am, which provided time to do little more than a warm up and some standing poses. On a couple of days I offered a 1 hour class in the afternoon. The routine included lots of vinyasas (knees/chest/chin to make it easy), and lots of twists: Ujayi (ocea...

Right: "It's very gay!" said friend Justin (also very gay). A reworked jacket by Red Mutha. MOVIE:  March 4 soft opening Hot on the platform heels of reminiscing old times with former roommate Julia Clancey , I followed up next day by attending the soft opening of her brother Andrew's new Lower East Side store,  Any Old Iron. It's been 13 years since I crashed on Andrew's sofa on my way from End to End in the UK, and he's since become a "curator" of men's fashion - vintage, eclectic, avante-garde - 100% True Brit. I walked in the door and noted that Andrew hadn't changed one bit. He's the same warm, welcoming and 'tude-free Andrew Clancey from when I knew him - just a little bit older, like all of us (sigh). His collection of unisex clothing includes the brand Red Mutha from Brighton, UK, which specializes in "reworking" old jackets. Meaning,  take 1 destined-for-Goodwill jacket, do a bit of nipping and tuckin...

Reconnecting with Julia in 2007 after 10 years, outside a fashion shop with bike-as-art in the Meatpacking District, Chelsea, NYC.  Update March 4, 2010 MOVIE: Julia's brother Andrew at his  Any Old Iron opening Below: Dec 2010 movie of Julia at Any Old Iron THANKS to Facebook, we can now get the low-down on long lost friends, lovers, roommates, colleagues .. . and inhale their exhaust fumes as they rocket to fame. I've been enjoying Googling the meteoric rise of my former flatmate Julia Clancey , once a hair stylist, now a top British fashion designer. Cameron Diaz, Victoria Beckham, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and a bunch of other starlets now wear her stunning couture threads. My Googling brought back some fond memories that I've enjoyed recanting below ... apologies that there are not more photos of Julia yet - they're currently in Sydney in my mother's closet, a long way from 'merica, but I'll dig them out soon and - with her blessing, share som...

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of my maiden voyage to Cuba I've created a ...   Handsomest Man in Cuba Facebook Fan Page And what better way to kick it off than with this utterly stunning photo essay by photographer/editor Carlo Alcos of popular travel writing site matadornetwork.com, who read my book, bought a Bike Friday, and did his own sojourn in 2010. His dramatic shots far surpass my Kodak happysnaps circa 2000. Take a look for yourself ... more Cuba news http://www.galfromdownunder.com/cuba/blog CAMERAS Carlo uses (and you're GONNA wanna know): "A Canon 40D... my two lenses are the Canon EF-S 10-22mm and the Canon EF-S 18-200mm." Rats! big 'ones. I guess I'm gonna have to grow up ... Carlo Alcos : CUBA PHOTO ESSAY 2010 published by  matadornetwork.com My wife and I were sitting on the steps of the Capitolio when I said, "is that...is he...no, can't be." But it was. 10 years after Lynette's excursion in Cuba and here he sti...

Namaste! Today I received 6 yoga blocks and 6 blankets thanks to the kind donation by Bike Friday Customer Glenn Martin  (pictured mid-Vasisthasana on Arizona Camp 2010 ) and a kind price break by YogaDirect.com. (As I said in my last yoga post, the ex-studio mats were donated by Laughing Lotus and my training was by Joschi Yoga Institute). It's gratifying to know that a dot com with a word like "direct" in it still has some human intervention to do special things for special people. Thank you Yoga Direct. The special people I'm referring to are the seniors at the Hudson Guild Community Center where I am volunteering a weekly yoga class. So far I've done 2 classes. Abilities range from belly dancers to someone in a wheelchair. It's really making me think about what really works for different bodily limitations. A lady with problematic feet could n ot do Downdog. We did Navasana (boat poses) instead - like a Down Dog upside down - no pressure on her feet a...

   A picture paints a thousand gripes. Can you tell what I'm about to rant about on FastCompany.com ? Stand by ... OK, here's the rant: Packaging Design 101: Follow through ... with decent glue .  

A little video of me tramping through the icy streets of NYC for my mother and father (who are sweltering in the heat of high summer Downunder). Ever wondered what it's like to walk through an icebox? Assuming you could shrink yourself down and do just that - this comes close. One thing you gotta do - buy the right boots . This year I blew $100+ on a pair of Steve Maddens that had absolutely, positively, NO zip up the side. Why so? Step in curbside puddle wearing boots with a side zip and you'll soon know - you'll be ankle deep in water. I believe I was on my way to a talk by übernaut Joe Kittinger (first man in space, jumped out of a balloon at 102K feet etc) hosted by Forbes Adventurer Jim Clash .  Joe appears far left, Jim's in the fawn jacket. The jump has been called, "Joe's Giant Step." I tell you, the weather on the way over to the Madison Ave location soon became a blizzard - I felt like Scott in the Antarctic. Jim interviewed me in 2005 ...

  Strolling past this building in Chelsea, NYC, I looked up to see a rolled tube containing a rose fall from a high window. It landed with a phtttht in the branches of a tree, as you can see.  What's the story behind this fallen rose, here on Valentine's Day?  Was it a "To heck with you!" moment? I paused a moment, waiting for an armful of men's clothing to swiftly follow, but it never came.  Thankfully. 

"Lynette, tell them about your yoga class. LYNETTE'S GOING TO TELL YOU ABOUT YOGA!" Yehudit is gathering people around one of the giant round tables in the cavernous community dining room. Some people aren't moving, so I won't get their attention. Most are already walking out the door. There's at least two generations of a Chinese family with a translator in front of me. Someone asks if I can speak Spanish. "Sufficiente para sobrevivir," I answer. I start to describe some simple movements and talk about Ujayi or "Darth Vadar" breathing. "Slower," says Yehudit as we raise our arms above our heads. I announce that we will be doing standing yoga in my class. I catch a glimpse of a Chinese gentleman in a wheelchair just as Yehudit says, "what about people who can't stand?" "We'll be doing sitting postures as well," I say. Thus began my induction to volunteering yoga at the Hudson Guild S...

Joy Ohara, Susan Lee , me (with Damien's bracelet), and pals form university days Lye Kok (back) and Damien Dernoncourt outside the Maritime Hotel, Chelsea, Manhattan On Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting Damien Dernoncourt, CEO and principal of John Hardy , makers of extremely fine silver jewelry in the Balinese tradition.  Apart from a mutual friendship with Bike Friday customers Lye and Joy, Damien had something in common: a handmade product with a story. In Damien's case, a stunning range of high-end silver jewelry made in Bali, where his company is the tiny country's biggest employer.  In my case, my little Traffic Cone Bag that's made in America (and of course, Bike Fridays , made in Eugene, Oregon).  When you see Damien's jewelry displayed in chic 5th Ave store windows, seemingly untouchable unless you're dressed well enough to hit the buzzer and enter, you'd never imagine the human and inspiring story behind it. First, the Balinese have th...

As you can see I'm hard at work, and practicing my yoga routine  ... (Photos below from the YogaJournal.com site) This picture was taken during my recent, oh-so-brief 5-day stay in the Bahamas, thanks to Bike Friday customer Hilge Hurford for generously inviting me to her timeshare.   My take on the Bahamas . I got caught up on plenty of reading, including fully digesting the current issue (as opposed to being 3 issues behind) of Yoga Journal, a nice, tight publication with a very long history.  I've been doing regular practice ever since putting my back out in November  at the end of my Japan trip, and it's really paid off. After some emergency chiropractic, then letting the pain subside, I went to a yoga class after 3 weeks and was amazed that 75% of the pain and stiffness had disappeared by the end of the class. Wow! Sacro-iliac joint pain is so utterly common, than when it hits we seriously worry if we've done something drastic. It just needs some rest ...

Avoiding banana lounge butt (except when typing this blog) and stingy things like these ... Story on the Wayback machine here .

I'm still waiting for i-Pearl Inc to say "I got it" and refund my $29.95 for the damaged laptop case. Or at least tell me to go to hell. The year has begun well. My best friend Julie from waaaaaaaaaay back in kindergarten, had the top of her lung removed a couple of days ago and has been given the all-clear. This, despite a very informed friend (head of a pulmonary critical care unit) telling me lung cancer is a tough one. I'd sent her a hamper of goodies but the internet hamper company didn't acknowledge right away for some reason. During that gap I had ample time to start wondering if my money had disappeared off to Nicaragua (a country I love, but you can disappear - voluntarily - pretty easily there). When I finally got an acknowledgement, it still left a lingering mistrust. I asked my friend to tell me what was in the hamper - just to see if the stated goods matched the actual. I thus declare 2010 to be the year of "I Got It". I assert...

Today I went shoe shopping  (no I didn't buy the above boots, despite turning Japanese )

I got an interesting letter from someone today: Hi, Seeing that the Cubans are so poor and that dear old man has worked so hard everyday did you, will you or have you given him any money for using his picture?I was back to Cuba this past March and gave him a picture I took of HIM!!! I wonder what he would do if he saw himself on your book? I'm thinking there is something wrong with this ... Sandra It's a reasonable question: should I give the man on the cover of my book money? More to the point - just how much? This reader feels I am somehow taking advantage of this man - profiting from by having his face on my book. Here's my reply: Thanks for writing. I appreciate your thinking on this - though you're making a baseline assumption that he is poorer than me. In many ways, he's probably better off. He charges $1 for 2 little photos he processes in that bucket in a prime tourist location. He makes more money in a day than many Cubans do in a month. He...