Alex Heaton

Like Jiji, like Mago: Admiring my father in law’s drawing style.

2012-01-01T06:08:00.001-08:00

My wife’s father is always doodling on scraps of paper.
Check out the great expressions on the cats in the top right corner.

I told him I liked his drawing and he brought out a book he has had for almost 50 years.

It is like a dictionary with lots of drawings. It was one of his son’s preschool text books from the 1960’s.

It had over a hundred pages densely drawn with these cool line drawings.

My daughter overheard me complimenting him and wanted to show me that she can draw too.

I think she takes after him!

Climbing Mt. Fuji with Sunrise Tours: What you need to know

2010-10-31T08:43:00.001-07:00

Climbing Mt Fuji has always sounded intimidating to me--physically, logistically, and economically. I read stories of water, noodles, and toilets costing upwards of $10 per bottle, cup, and leak. With rumors of mysterious “huts” that wouldn’t ruthlessly wouldn’t let you in without paying astronomical feels no matter how cold, hungry, or weak you were.

You can only climb Fuji in July and August, and since I was going to Japan in August this year, this was my chance. I booked a 2 day tour with Sunrise Tours, which I thought was a good way to go. They pickup you up in Tokyo and drop you off the next day. They make it is easy as possible, but you don’t know what to expect until you get there.

If you read all of the fine print on the Sunrise Web site it will tell you most of what you need to know, and I’ve added my commentary to help my fellow climbers fill in the gaps.

ITINERARY

Day 1: Tokyo - Mt.Fuji
7:10 a.m. Leave Keio Plaza Hotel. Shinjuku

You meet in the lobby of the Keio plaza hotel in Shinjuku and then you walk a few minutes to a parking lot where the buses are waiting. The Keio plaza hotel is pretty nice so it’s a good choice to stay there the night before since you have to meet at 7:00 am. The Keio plaza has Konbini (convenience store) in the basement so you can stock up on snacks and water. At the lobby you will meet your English speaking tour guide (who is Japanese) and about 20 other foreigners. When you get to the bus parking lot there will be about another 50-70 Japanese their waiting for the bus too. This is because you are part of a bigger Japanese tour and you all get on the bus and climb together.

They make all of the foreigners sit at the back of the bus, which some of the people did not like, but they do it to keep us all together so the tour guide can translate the announcements.

They don’t mention this on the itinerary but on the way to Mt Fuji they stop off at a rest stop where you can grab some more food and drinks before you get to the mountain.

11:30 a.m.
Arrive at Mt.Fuji Kawaguchiko 5th station.
Lunch on your own and prepare to climb.

You drive halfway up the mountain and they drop you off at this base, which looks kind of like a small ski resort. There are about 100 buses and it is totally packed with people. They said there are two kinds of people there, those with smiles on there faces who are about to go up. And those with frowns who just got down.

In one of the lodges the tour group has reserved a floor with tatami mats where you can change into your gear, eat, and leave your luggage. You have about 30 extra minutes to walk around and they have cafeterias where you can buy lunch. The prices are not that exorbitant here, but this is where where the pee pee tax begins, you have to pay 100 yen to use the restroom.

1:00 p.m.
Depart 5th Station and ascend route.

Now it’s time to start hiking (in the rain). It starts out pretty gradually

After about 30 minutes the path get’s narrower and steeper.

At some points you have walk single file up the rocks.

I really liked the look of the colorful, coordinated rain gear that most people were wearing. For the first leg of the trip everything was pretty easy (because we were going pretty slow) and everyone was having a good time.

5:00 p.m.
Arrive at Toyokan lodge at 8th station.
Short stay at Toyokan Hut (Dinner and rest until 11:00 p.m.)

To be continued…

Oslo, Norway, 2010 City Bike Tour

2010-07-03T09:58:00.001-07:00

Oslo is a lot like Seattle, they have lots of green, water, and coffee shops—but its a lot more expensive, the weather seemed better, and they eat open face sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The Flytoget train from the airport to downtown the fastest airport train in the world, with a top speed of 130 mph. Even though it is super fast as modern it still has nice nordic touches like wooden seats.

I was here on business so I grabbed lunch at the Microsoft Oslo cafeteria. This Microsoft cafeteria was unlike any I have ever seen and I had an excellent fish soup.

Just Kidding. That is not the Microsoft cafeteria. That is the lovely Lofoten Fiskerestaurant in the Aker Brygge complex on waterfront.

This is the Microsoft Oslo cafeteria, where I had my first of many open face sandwiches. First, you ~~pinch~~ slice a loaf and the cracker of your choice. Then you head to the cold case and pick a dish of salmon, crab, shrimp, eggs, cheese, pickled herring, and about a dozen other things I could not recognize.

And voila, a Norwegian sandwich! Osloites are are very into pastes to put on their sandwiches. the cafeteria had baskets of funky Norwegian condiments like cod roe past, herring paste, bacon paste, and pates.

After business was done it was time to the streets. Oslo has a bike sharing system so you can check out a bike and ride it all around the city.

The last night I stayed at the Airport Comfort Hotel RunWay. You wouldn’t expect much from a Comfort Hotel at the airport, but this really nice. Very new and modern and the hottest sauna ever.

R.I.P. Alex Heaton

2010-05-28T18:00:00.001-07:00

On Friday May 21, 2010 Alex Heaton was found dead in his home in New Orleans of an apparent suicide.

According to NOLA.com. “Former three-term state lawmaker Alexander "Alex" Heaton died inside his Carrollton area home from a single gunshot wound to the head, according to New Orleans authorities.”

For those who don't know the history of alexheaton.com, before I acquired the domain, it was owned by a group called BIGALCOHOL.COM that used this site to bash this very same Alex Heaton. The archive of this old site from 2004 is still available.

According these unnamed sources, “Heaton has become known as "coward kill heaton" due to the cowardly manner in which he helped killed an alcohol tax increase in 2002 that would pay to treat some of the 35,000 people who are turned away from treatment every year in Louisiana.” and “Once member of Louisiana's political delegation was heard saying that (Heaton)" has blood on his hands."

Both of these quotes are oddly prophetic as he most certainly did have blood on his hands (at least one) and some would say the nickname "coward kill heaton" is now more appropriate than ever.

Non-substantiated rumors aside, this is a great loss to the Alex Heaton community. And the world is a lesser plan now with one less Alex Heaton here.

Sakura Con 2010: Momo’s Ponyo Costume

2010-04-04T15:02:00.001-07:00

On Easter Sunday Momo and I went to Sakura-Con in Seattle. Mari I and I dressed Momo up as Ponyo. We found a red dress at Old Navy and Mari orders the bloomers online. We found a green bucket and the costume was complete.

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Does she look like the real thing?

This fox girl had the most awesome costume at the show.

There were a lot of good costumes. It reminded me of when I went to the Tokyo Game Show a few years ago.

See you next year!

36 Hours in Taipei, Taiwan

2010-03-20T14:49:00.001-07:00

No, this is not part of the 36 Hours series from the New York Times. And yes, they already wrote a guide called, “36 Hours in Taipei, Taiwan.” But my trademark attorney assured me that “36 Hours in Taipei, Taiwan” is a non-trademarkable, descriptive term that I could use without an unacceptable business risk as long as I was actually in Tapei for 36 hours, which I was.

Taipei 101 tower is, was, or will be the tallest building in the world—depending on what publication you read. This was the view outside the United Hotel where I stayed.

My primary destination was the hot springs district of Beitou. It remind me of Beppu, Japan because the whole area is steamy and sulfury.

If you get off the subway and walk to the left of the park, you’ll come to the Beitou Hot Springs Museum, which was built by and the for the Japanese when they occupied Taiwan. It’s a nice old building that blends European and Japanese style.With roman arches, bath, and stained glass windows on the bottom floor. Keep walking up the hill and follow the hotspring river.

I saw about a dozen little bath houses along the road, but couldn’t decide which one to try.

This is the Villa 32 hotel, which is like a traditional Japanese ryokan hot spring hotel. I wanted to check it out but they had a big sign that said “hotel guests only no trespassing” and a scary security guard that didn’t speak any English. But they actually do have a public hot spring that non-hotel guests can use. I definitely want to check it out if I ever return.

I ended up going to the Sweet Me Hotspring Resort, which is very close to the train station. It was like a modern Japanese sento bathhouse. They have private rooms and a public area, I was the only one in the public bath so I got the best of both worlds. Before I went in the attendant told me, “no pictures!” even though it was empty, so I don’t have any pictures but you get an idea of what it looks like here.

They also had a nice restaurant where I had my first Taiwanese food, fish soup and seafood fried rice.

I also checked out the Shilin Night Market, which is on the way back from Beitou.

I tried the “stinky tofu” which is not as bad as I thought it would be.

And I had an oyster omelet, which was not as good as I thought it would be.

The best thing I had on the whole trip was this mango shaved ice with fresh pineapple inside.

Mexican Indian Food Sighting Number 2

2009-12-20T22:42:00.001-08:00

I’ve been on the lookout for Mexican Indian food for over 2 years, and finally made another sighting. Curry Burrito at Mexico Cantina Y Cocina, also known as the Mexican restaurant on the top of the Pacific Place mall in Seattle. I I did not try it because I am a pesco-ovo-lacto-vegetarian. Though, I had a major moment of weakness and seriously considered becoming a pesco-pollo-ovo-lacto-vegetarian (at least for 5 minutes), but I restrained myself because I didn’t want to go to hell.

I am sorry for the grainy cell phone photo, but it’s fitting. Mexican Indian food is the Bigfoot and Loch Ness Monster of fusion cuisine. It exists only in rumors of sketchy stories of long-closed restaurants.

Who knows if this sighting was even real? Did I actually order it? See it? Taste it? No. Maybe it was just a cruel joke. Today’s special, which will be gone tomorrow. So the search goes on.

But this near miss give me hope. It the Mexican restaurant in the Pacific Place had a Curry Burrito for even a few hours, there must be more out there.

My prediction is that Mexindian food is going to be the almost breakout food of the 2010 decade, like Peruvian food was the almost hit of the 2000s. You heard it hear first.

Nikko Japan Part 2: Lake Chuzenji to Yumoto Onsen

2009-07-02T23:18:00.001-07:00

On day 2 in Nikko I took a bus up a mountain to the Lake Chuzenji area. My plan was to hike from the lake on the left hand side of the map, to the hot spring on the top right. My guide book said it should take about 3 hours, but it in the snow it took me 5. In that time I only saw 3 other people on the trail, I it was –10 degrees C, and I didn’t have a map until I found the sign above a few hours into the hike and took a picture of it.

But I felt relatively safe because most of the trail was on these elevated boards and I just had to follow the footprints.

This part of the hike is the Senjogahara Plateau Nature Trail. Most of the year this park is crowded with people, but it was very peaceful to be all alone in the woods.

This panorama was stitched together using Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Then I went over the river and through the woods.

After 5 hours I finally made it to Yumoto Spa. To call this a “Spa” is a bit misleading. All I could find at this time of year were shuttered buildings, igloos, and a stinky pump house.

I found one place that was open for business. The Okunikko Konishi Hotel and Hot Spring. For about $10 you can use their hot spring baths even if you are not staying at the hotel.

After warming up in the hot spring for a while I got a bus back to Nikko station, took a train to Tokyo, and was back home before 22:00.

Nikko Japan Part 1: Tobu Premium

2009-04-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

My guidebook said the best way to get from Tokyo to Nikko is the Tobu Free Pass. When I got to the station they were advertising the Premium Pass, which had to be even better.

Inquiring about the premium pass I asked the lady at the counter:

Me: “Excuse me. What is the Premium Pass?”
Lady: “Do you want the Premium Pass?”
Me: “What is it? What makes it premium?”
Lady: “Premium pass is veery special? Do you want Premium Pass?”
Me: “How much does it cost?”
Lady: <After thinking hard for about a minute> “Excuse me.”

Then she went to back and whispered with her colleagues for a while and pointed at me and finally the manager came out.

Manager: “Do you want Premium Pass?”
Me: “Yes.” <I think this is right answer.>
Manager: “I’m sorry. We don’t have Premium Pass!”

So I was on my way with the normal pass

Nikko is one of the most popular tourist sites in Japan because of the shrines, waterfalls, and nature. When you get off the train, it is about a mile walk up to where the shrines are.

A few blocks up the hill on the left hand side you can help yourself to delicious Nikko water. And there is a visitors center near here.

Near the top of the hill on the right hand side, you should definitely checkout Nazuna Antiques & Zakka shop. It lots of old Japanese stuff and local crafts that make great souvenirs—I have never seen a shop like it.

At the top of the hill there is a famous bridge. But if you actually want to walk across it you have to pay 300 Yen ($3), so just stay on the street.

Across the river is where all of the shrines are. On the way to the shrines are food stalls with Japanese snacks. These white balls (Dango) looked safe enough, but then they were slathered them with some disgusting black sauce.

Toshogo shrine is where the original see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys are from. Besides the temples, there are lots of walking trails and other sites around Nikko. Like these statues along the river, which are said to be uncountable (Narabi-jizo).

I spent the night in the Turtle Inn Hotori-An, which is kind of like a hostel but has nice private tatami rooms and a nice hot springs bath.

Homestyle Japanese Food from Masae’s Kitchen

2009-01-18T20:13:00.001-08:00

This is some of the awesome food my mother in law made when I visited them in Japan.

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Homemade Pickles

Kimpura Lotus Root

Oden (Japanese Stew)

Mendaiko Onigiro (Rice Balls filled with Spicy Cod Roe)

Homemade Red Kabu Pickles (Red Turnip)

Breakfast: Toast, Cheese, Salad, Fruit, Coffee

Cabbage Nimono (Simmered Cabbage)

Seafood Agemono (Breaded deep-fried squid, prawns, oysters)

Seattle ThunderSnow 2008: Snow Day!!!

2008-12-19T23:19:00.000-08:00

One thing I don’t miss about Iowa is the freezing cold and ice. But a snow day can be nice every once in a while.

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This was the view outside my window.

I took a walk down to REI to buy some cozy socks. (Save 10% if you buy any 3 pairs!)

My friend Akemi built an awesome snow cat.

Note: This is an American style snow cat. Japanese snowcats/men have only 2 balls (snicker snicker) and no nose. They look more like him More Japanese snowmen >

And then I ended the day checking out a new restaurant on Capitol Hill, Oddfellows Cafe + Bar that just opened today.

The inside looks pretty cool too, it’s kind of like an old school house. It feels like a cross between a coffee shop and pub.

The menu looks pretty good too. But I didn’t end up trying anything because my wife made me come home :(

Seattle ThunderSnow 2008: A Nightmare on Ice

2008-12-19T22:58:00.001-08:00

Today downtown Seattle should have been declared a federal disaster zone. Unfortunately I had to go out and run some errands and got to witness the carnage firsthand.

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Things started ominously in the middle of the night when I was woken up by the sonic boom of the ThunderSnow. I thought a fuel tanker or something crashed and exploded outside my building. You can here it here http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=314479.

On Friday the roads were even worse than Thursday and some tour buses almost slid themselves off a wall onto I5 trying navigate all of the closed and blocked off streets.

They apparently thought it would be a good idea to try and drive their buses down the one hill that was not blocked off by the police. (No one was severely hurt.)

A lot of people made the clever mistake of trying to take a “shortcut” down some road that was free of traffic, only to end of crashed at the bottom. At one intersection I saw at least 5 different cars try and go down the same icy hill and end up slamming into the curb at the bottom of the hill. I warned this guy and not to go down the hill but he didn’t listen to me.

As you can see, the road is totally iced over.

I learned my lesson about driving in the Seattle snow about 2 years ago. I was at a party at the Red Hook Brewery in Redmond and then it started snowing. It took me about 6 hours to get home and along the way I crashed my car into a parked truck because there was just no traction.

The Seattle Times also has some good footage of the buses and other mishaps through out the area. Check it out before they go out of business.

Keirin: A day at the Japanese bike races

2008-07-30T20:46:00.001-07:00

The last time I visited Japan I went out to see a bike race--a track event called 'keirin'. Keirin was in the world headlines this week because the BBC claims that Japanese lobbyists paid bribes to get Keirin included in the Olympics.

These Japanese bike races are not the wholesome events that would expect. The atmosphere is nothing like the Marymoor Park Velodrome, for example. The whole atmosphere is really weird.

It's more like a dog track race, where the audience place bets on their favorite riders. Most of the audience are their 50s-60s, milling around and smoking. And the entire track is surrounded by a rusty chain link fence, which ruins the view and makes the place kind of Mad Max. I was there for about 20 minutes before I saw any bikes.

And then the pageantry begins. Triumphant music plays over the speakers, 2 girls run out and wave flags, and the riders ride through an arch in their superhero uniforms up to the starting blocks, bow, and they're off.

The gamblers are not all that interested in bike racing really, and there is not much to do in between races so they have some entertainment in between the races to keep them around.

The best part of a day at the Keirin is probably the food. They have a dozen or so vendors selling really cheap and pretty healthy japanese food. Like a whole pickled cucumber on a stick, a grilled sweet potato, and rice porridge (okayu).

This place has 10 kinds of onigiri (rice balls), others had tempura, udon or sushi.

All in all, keirin is no tour de france (which I saw once too) and if you find yourself in Japan their are much more interesting things you can do with your time than this. But if you are in the neighborhood and a race is on, its a good place to get a snack.

Oh yeah, if you want to see an actual keirin race, check this out...

Cuil. The worst search engine in the western world

2008-07-28T18:32:00.001-07:00

I found the worst search engine in the world, and it’s not what you think it is. It's cuil.com (pronounced 'cool'). Founded by some ex-google execs, it sounded like it had some potential and got a lot of press when it launched today. But I couldn't agree more with PCMag when they say, "The New Cuil Search Engine Sucks."

Just how bad is it? Let me demostrate...

The home page does look kind of cuil, and it has a nice word prediction feature as you type your query. But that's where the cuilness ends.

First of all, it fails the ultimate test. If I type in "Alex Heaton" it doesn't even have this site, alexheaton.com. Just a bunch of imposter sites.

And that's if your lucky and the site actually works at all. Most of the time you get a 404 or some such error message.

In the 1 in 1,617,892,992 chance that the site actually works, my favorite feature is the "Explore by Category" links on the right side. According to their features page, "By looking at these suggestions, you may discover search data, concepts, or related areas of interest that you hadn’t expected." I'll say... Search for 'wonderbra' and for a category it suggest "mormonism"?

I feel most sorry for Cuil's investors, which include Seattle's Madrona Capital Partners. Some guys from Madrona taught a class when I was going to UW. I bet they thought this was their chance to get in on the next Google.

I'm sure that Cuil has gone down in flames so badly on day 1 that they won't recover. They won't go public, they won't be acquired by anyone, game over.

Their biggest mistake was not calling it beta. If the thing is not ready, then call it a beta. Then if it sucks you can just say, hey its just a beta. Look at gmail, it works just fine but they still call it a beta years later. Look at MobileMe from Apple--they didn't call it a beta and look what happened.

Vegetarian Ramen in Tokyo (Kagetsu Nana Ramen)

2008-07-04T09:17:00.001-07:00

Ever since I saw the movie Tampopo I've wanted eat some real Japanese ramen. Now I've been to Japan several times and have lots of Udon and Soba, I'd still never had Ramen since the secret recipe is usually closely guarded combination of pork, chicken, and beef bone stock. Even innocent sounding Miso, Salt, or Soy Ramen are made with meat stock.

I want to Tokyo in March and this sign outside the Kagetsu Ramen Chain caught my eye. "No Pork. No Chicken. No Fish. Only Vegetable." It's totally vegan ramen.

I came back a few days later to try it out. Even though its a real restaurant with waitresses, you have to place your order from one of these vending machines (which have always intimidated me) and then give your ticket to the cook.

And then they bring you the soup.

So how is it? I give it two thumbs up. I really like all of the vegetables they put in it--broccoli, daikon, carrot, baby corn. Often vegan/vegetable broth taste really bland, but this broth tastes really good (at least to me). I would eat it again for sure if I had the chance.

And my in-laws seemed to like it too!

Unfortunately, this is only on the menu for limited time. But I read that they might bring it back next spring. So keep your open if you are in Japan. The place is called Ramen Kagetsu Arashi, they have 200+ branches in Japan including one in Narita airport.

That's not me!

2008-05-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

For all of you who have been asking if that's me on that video, "Bethani King & Alex Heaton accompanied by Sierra King." The answer is No! Its just another unfortunate case of mistaken internet identity. I know the video is a little grainy, but seriously. First of all, I don't play flute or clarinet nearly that well. Secondly, the video is dated February 24th, 2006. Well Sherlock, On February 24th I had to work late and there is no way I would have been able to make it all the way from Redmond to Chehalis and get all dressed up in time for the concert. And thirdly, none of these girls even look like me. *Make sure your speakers are on*

It's Bruxism

2008-03-23T11:55:00.000-07:00

The xray's on the wall confirmed the diagnosis, it's bruxism. Which means my body is literally eating itself alive. I got fitted for the prosthetic which should be here in a few days, great.

I've never been a quitter so I've been looking online to see what I can do. But if wikipedia is any even half right when it say, "There is no accepted cure for bruxism." I'm not feeling too optimistic.

I wanted to prepare my friends and family for what some of the long term effects are going to be. The image below describes the degenerative effects of the disease--please don't make fun of me when it happens.

But I haven't totally given up hope, in my research I've come across U.S. Patent #5,078,153 filed Jan. 7, 1992 which uses electromyography for the treatment of temporomandibular disorders. It looks promising.

Unfortunately this was on a Web page called "Unrecommended Bruxism Treatments", but it may be my only shot.

If there are any other "bruxers" out there who want to chat drop me a line.

Thanks for reading. This is probably going to be last post for a while.

aheaton.com is live!

2007-10-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Alex Heaton for launching aheaton.com! Alex sent me a mail to let me that his new site is live.

If there are any doctors reading this in the Hudson Valley area that need a new PC or server setup, then Alex is your man!

The King of Kong, the way I see it

2007-09-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

The King of Kong (http://www.billyvssteve.com/) is an awesome documentary about a guy from Redmond’s (Steve Wiebe) struggle to achieve the world record high score in Donkey Kong. It may sound like a silly movie, but it has spun up a storm of intrigue about Donkey Kong cheats, hacked Donkey Kong processors, and the governing board of video game competition’s (Twin Galaxies) apparent bias towards long-time Donkey Kong champion and gaming ambassador Billy Mitchell—against outsider gamer Steve Wiebe and their refusal to accept his high scores and provide a level playing field. It is a classic tale of an underdog trying to get to the top, despite the efforts of the powers that be. (Think Karate Kid with middle-aged guys playing video games, minus Mr. Miyage.)

After seeing the movie I some searching to find out what happened after the movie, and came across the below picture of the original Donkey Kong artwork that went on the side of the side of the arcade machine. I thought that captured the essence of the King of Kong perfectly, and asked Seattle cartoonist Kyle Bolton to draw me the picture at the top of the page.
Steve Weibe plays the role of Mario, trying to make it to the top, where Billy Mitchell is. The Twin Galaxies referees are Donkey Kong throwing barrels down on Steve, trying to block his every move—and protecting Billy Mitchell who can’t or won’t protect himself. (Are you reading Billy?)

Coincidentally, the head of Twin Galaxies, Walter Day, portrayed by the Donkey Kong referee in the cartoon above, is a friend of my family and I remember him as a nice guy. In the movie they go to his home in Fairfield, IA which is where I grew up and where my parents live.
I’ve heard they are considering making a sequel to the documentary or even a remaking it a live action movie with professional actors. (I vote for Bill Pullman playing Steve Weibe and Tom Cruise for Billy Mitchell.)

If you haven’t seen King of Kong already, check it out!

MS 150 Bike Tour

2007-09-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I participated in the MS 150 Bike Tour around La Conner, Washington. When I first started working at Microsoft I used to see a bunch of posters in the hallways for the “MS 150.” I used to think that “MS” stood for Microsoft and that Microsoft sponsored the event. The MS actually stands for Multiple Sclerosis and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society organizes a series of over 100 bike tours around the country to raise money to fight the disease. Since the event came to Washington in 1994, the Microsoft team has had the most riders and raised the most money. Until this year! This year Team Microsoft is in second place for fundraising, with a total of $106,922.51 raised, behind an investment services company Merriman Berkman Next, which has raised $108,706.29. Even though the ride is over, we have until October 17th to complete the fundraising. If you want to make a donation to this valuable clause you can do it at my online rider page. All donations are tax deductible, eligible for Microsoft matching funds, and will go towards Microsoft’s team total.

The MS Bike Tour is not only for a great cause, it’s a great ride. I did a few bike rides this summer, including the Seattle to Portland (STP) ride, and I think this is the best one. It has the best scenery and the best rider support. Since its for a good cause, they are able to attract a lot of volunteers to put up signs and direct traffic so you know where you are going and feel safe.

But it’s really the scenery that made this ride the best, with many miles along the coast. 25 miles into the first ride we came to Deception Pass a bridge that takes you to Whidbey Island. I’ve never heard of Deception Pass before, but it’s actually the most visited park in Washington State. Some photos of the pass:

The other highlight of the trip was ride along Chuckanut Drive, along the coast just south of Bellingham. Chuckanut drive is a winding, rolling road with views like this:

Mexican Indian Food

2007-08-16T20:45:00.001-07:00

This month I read Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors, a surprisingly interesting book about the history of Indian food and how it influenced and was influence by other cultures. Did you know that chai is not a traditional Indian drink? In fact, tea did not even grow in India until it was brought by the British in the 1800’s, and it was not widely drunk by Indian’s until the 1900’s.

Since reading the book I’ve been eating Indian food at least once a week at the cafeteria at work, which has a station serving pretty good vegetarian south Indian food. But I fear I’ll never get to eat the food I really want to try—“Mexican Indian Food”.

According to the book, in the early 1900’s there was a community of “Mexican Hindus” that lived in California and developed their own “Mexican Hindu” cuisine. Around that time, Indian’s working on steamships often jumped ship once they reached America. They were able to find work in the agricultural fields of California and often married Mexican women, which gave them rights to stay in the country and even own land. It was these mixed Mexican-Indian household’s that gave birth to “Mexican Hindu” cuisine, describe in this passage.

“Mexicans and Punjabi’s share a preference for fresh food,
flavored with freshly ground spices. The fried chicken or lamb of
the Mexican women was not dissimilar to the chicken curries of
the Punjabi men. The chili’s that the latter used in India were
easily interchangeable with Mexican jalapeño peppers. Punjabi
lemon pickle went equally well with corn-based tortilla’s as it did
with wheat flour rotis.”

California is also where the first Indian food was sold in American restaurants.

“Chicken currey probably first appeared on an American
restaurant menu at either the El Ranchero in Yuba City or at
Panchero’s in Selma where curry and roti’s were served alongside Mexican enchilada’s.”

Man, after reading that I really wanted to try a curry burrito of some papadam’s and guacamole, but sadly I’m sure that both El Ranchero and Panchero’s are long gone and I’d never get to have Mexican Hindu food, unless I made it myself.

Or so I thought!

On a recent road trip to Vancouver Island, British Columbia I came across actual Mexican Indian food, at a gas station of all places.

That’s right, Dorito’s Tandoori Sizzler! Nacho cheese + tandoori = Mexican Indian. Unfortunately they don’t taste much different than regular Dorito’s with curry powder sprinkled on top. But my quest is over and it goes to show how Indian food is still evolving and spreading.

I believe that these are only available in Canada, and Frito-Lay made them to cater to the large Canadian East Population. They even made a TV ad, check it out.

If anyone knows some restaurants where I can find real Mexican Indian food, let me know.

Welcome to the Official Alex Heaton Blog

2007-08-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the official Alex Heaton blog. This is your place to get the latest news on me and other Alex Heaton’s throughout the world. There are alot of Alex Heaton Web site's out there, but this is only authorized one (by me). But, this is just not about me but for all of the other Alex Heaton's in the world. If you are an Alex Heaton (or someother international variation like Alexi Heatonovitch) and want me to link to your blog or share some news, then let me know.

Who are the other Alex Heatons? That's a good question because I've never met one myself, but according to Google rankings these are the top 5.

Alex Heaton (http://www.alexheaton.co.uk/)
This guys seems to be some kind of UK pumpkin head with a cutting edge circa 1998 Web site. I wonder what he's been up to for the last decade? Com'n Alex, my readers want to know.

Alexander Heaton (http://www.artshole.co.uk/alexanderheaton.htm)
Another UK art geek, who, according his artist statement, has tapped into the soothing power of alien imagery. "Alien structures counteract this fear [the fear of the fear of being exposed to the vastness of nature] by opposing the natural order and remind the viewer of distantly unreal spatial realms."

(Why are other Alex Heaton's such freaks?)

Alex Heaton (www.alexheatonracing.com)
By far the most bad ass Alex Heaton. This guy, also a brit, is a professional motorcycle racer, with his own coat of arms!

Alex Heaton (Your Truly)
Work related blog post http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/06/03/teched-2007-day-one-microsoft-desktop-optimization-pack-update.aspx

Alex Heaton (http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Reps/members.asp?ID=95)
The only Alex Heaton so far that wears a tie, also happens to be the most sleazy. This Alex Heaton is a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, representing New Orleans. Alex's claim to fame seems to be that he is faithful represenative for Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco, which I'm sure are the to most important issues facing the citizens of New Orleans. Poor Alex just had his bill to re-allow smoking in New Orleans's bars rejected http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20070504/ai_n19064439. I remember a few years ago when I went to alexheaton.com it was a Web site bashing this guy for supporting Big Alcohol.

There you have it folks, the top 5 Alex Heaton's of August 2007, unless of course you use Live.com, which you should, in which case, I am numero uno!