Cyrus Farivar

Ok guys, Tuesday is the new Thursday (which, by the way was the new Friday). So on March 13, on behalf of the Bay Area Persian community (of which I’m a very non-active member), I invite all locals, Persian and non-Persian alike to come join me at the Persian Center for my very first Chaharshanbe Suri. Chaharshanbe Suri (in Persian: چهارشنبه‌سوری‎) is the ancient Iranian festival dating at least back to 1700 BCE of the early Zoroastrian era.[1] The festival…

Oakland Magazine: 7. Oliveto’s Whole Hog Dinner is plugged into your PDA. Every February, Oliveto, the gourmet anchor of Oakland’s food scene, brings down the house with its Whole Hog Dinner—and, yes, said hog is shipped direct from a pig farm in Iowa. The annual event incorporates the whole hog, and the 2006 deluxe dinner included everything from expected pork classics like headcheese (coppa di testa), prosciutto and pastrami but rounded out the evening with new treats such as bacon…

The following piece was written by Sarmad Ali, one of my very good friends from Columbia. When I first met him, I knew I had to be friends with him, as I knew that he must have surely felt very much out of his element upon first arriving. He’s spent more than one holiday with my family both in California and Connecticut and we are always welcome to have him and to serve as his surrogate family in the US.…

I made it home, safe and sound, despite threatening snowstorms in Chicago. I’m so over this winter thing.

Argh, just when I thought I would be able to get home without any problems, it looks like I may get stuck in Paris for another day. There’s major snow storms in Chicago (I’m transiting through O’Hare), and today’s American Airlines Flight 41 from Paris to Chicago was canceled. That means that mine (also Flight 41) could be canceled too. Fortunately for me, if I get stuck in Paris I do have somewhere to stay. But still, think warm thoughts.

In 12 hours, I’ll be on a train bound for Paris. In 16 hours, I’ll be on a plane bound for Chicago. In about 36 hours, I’ll be home in Oakland. My trip to Geneva has been, like many of my other quick stops, has been productive, short, and yet just the right amount of time. Luca picked me up from the airport, having taken time out of his vacation in Ticino to do so, and took me to his…

BBC: Mr Obama, who has described the Iraq war as “tragic”, said he was “flattered” by Mr Howard’s statement. He said: “I think it’s flattering that one of George Bush’s allies on the other side of the world started attacking me the day after I announced. “I would also note that we have close to 140,000 troops on the ground now, and my understanding is Mr Howard has deployed 1,400, so if he is (ready) to fight the good fight…

Greetings from Berlin, where I’m crashing with John and Aimee for one night before heading onto Geneva. Well, more accurately I’ve just done my crashing for the night, seeing as it’s morning here now. But they’ve been gracious hosts in their apartment just off of Bornholmer Straße in the northeastern part of the city. Last night we walked around the neighborhood, hit up a bar, went out for Japanese food, and then hit up another bar on the way home.…

Probably one of the most interesting things that I’ve heard on this trip, from a guy who is working on setting up more mobile data services in Estonia. Televork is buying equipment from a Chinese company, ZTE. “Europeans are trying to enjoy their quality of life while the Chinese are trying to improve it.” — Laur Lemendik Services Development Manager Televork February 9, 2007 Tallinn, Estonia