The Best of 2007

ALBANY, N.Y — Blogging every day, or the majority of days in a year, produces an incredible amount of text, a virtual avalanche of verbosity. This year I wrote 180 entries, each with about 600 words (things got longer as the year went on). After mashing on a few buttons on the Windows Calculator application, I can claim to have written 108,000 words on this Web site.

That's a lot to wade through, especially since Blogger is blocked at many places of employment. As an introduction, I've selected a dozen entries which I feel represent the best of what I've written this year and provided links and a short summary below. In the newspaper business, or at least the corner of the newspaper business I used to operate in, this would be called a "Clip 'n' Save" post. Feel free to print it out and send it to your grandmother in Arizona.


"Monika"
I meet a sharp-tounged fellow student while staying in a claustrophobic hostel.

"Standing Up to A Bear"
A Lithuanian student of politics explains why Russia is really, really scary.

"Do Svidaniya, Russia"
Sneaking out of Russia with a vanful of Mongolian sheep herders.

"Please Observe All Signs and Regulations While in the China"
A friendly police officer defends China's draconian penal code.

"Straight Outta Ulaanbaatar"
Mongolian gangsta rap brings tears to my eyes.

"Two Bombs, One Song"
I check out Qinghai's newest tourist attraction: The Nuclear Weapons Testing Bunker.

"Celvin"
A chicken-wing salesman falls in love.

"Running the Border"
The monsoon ruins a dubious plan to run the border into the closed kingdom of Bhutan.

"Bandages, Thermometers, and a Spider"
My Chinese comes in handy when a friend gets sick in a small town.

"The Ladykillers"
I'm robbed in the night and the prime suspects are Thai transvestite prostitutes.

"Man-Meat"
A Kazakh pimp wants me to "entertain" rich Beijing women.

"The Capture of Jiang Zhendong"
A criminal case in Beijing brings back memories of a tough assignment several months earlier.