Thursday 29 November 2007

Snoop & Becks II

Or maybe Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz will be smooth-ass rapperz . . .

Friday 9 November 2007

Enfermo

Sorry, but none of my typically profound thoughts today-- I'm fighting off a pretty strong stomach bug.

But not to worry . . . I'll be back! (w/ a big fellow's Austrian accent)

Thursday 8 November 2007

tiraste un pedoj?

My kids first Spanish phrase . . .

Wednesday 7 November 2007

Everyone in the house is sick

Except for me and 4 year old. Thus, I'm playing Dr. and nurse and don't have much time to put down my usual profound thoughts this evening-- sorry.

However, I did realize today that there is someone in my organizaton who looks a bit like Firemarshall Bill (without the burn and char marks). Let me show you somethin'!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zee050CQx70

Monday 5 November 2007

How People Categorize Themselves- Pt 1

it is interesting to see how people rank, or priortize, their characteristics, both observable and not. One of my little theories is that you can tell a lot about a person if you can figure out how they categorize themselves-- this is especially easy b/c in the U.S. we are taught to put everyone into categories. It is also interesting to see how people rank themselves and why versus how society ranks them.

Take, for example, Angelina-- she is a woman with 2 kids. She is a pediatrician who was born in California to Mexican parents. She attends church, votes democrat, is bilingual has a light brown complexion. She is recently separated from her husband of 8 years. She is a Golden State Warriors fan whose favorite food is bread pudding.

So how do you think Angelina ranks her characteristics??

How would you rank them??

I will come back to this one soon.

Sunday 4 November 2007

The Best Jamaican . . .

Shit-- No, not that kind.

My wife made the BEST Jamaican . . . stew(?) SUN nite.


She took some pix b/c we were pretty proud. It's one of those things that tastes great in a restaurant but seems like it would be difficult to replicate at home-- luckily, that was not the situation here.

Saturday 3 November 2007

Snoop and Becks

In last Thursday's (01 NOV) "The London Paper", there was a brief article about Snoop Dog(sp?). The main point was that Snoop feels he could help with England's growing gang problem except for one little problem-- the UK has banned Snoop from entering the country due to some past incidents. The article also went on to say how Snoop and David Beckham have been hangin' out in L.A., and among other things, they are planning/making a movie and that Snoop has Becks working with the little dawgs teaching them how to play (the true) football.


That got me to thinking for a second, "What if Snoop really likes soccer or grows to like it, or whatever?" We thought Beckham was helping popularize the game in the US, but imagine the potential demographic shift in players (or should I say "playahs") if Snoop's kids are, or get, really good and/or Snoop began frequenting matches and/or putting footage in videos and/or wearing jerseys (overseas or MLS), or . . . .


If Barry (or Deion) Sanders, etc. had grown up with a ball at their feet instead of in their hands, the US may have already won a World Cup.

Give my life to TAKE that of others?!

What would a suicide bomber think if (as) (s)he got suicide bombed him/herself?? Would it be, "Oh, that's what it feels like-- that sucks," or, "Who are you to be bitin' my style?!," or, "That sucks because I really wanted the chance to suicide bomb someone else," or, "I was planning to die anyway, so no big deal- same end, different means."

Also, why aren't there extreme Christian siucide bombers? What about Buddhist ones? (maybe they're too self-enlightened- i.e. not stupid enough- to do such a thing)

Friday 2 November 2007

CS?

So I'm in the "supermarket" on FRI trying to find CREAMED COCONUT, whatever that is. I'm looking and looking for a can, pouch, etc. of creamed coconut, and given that there are only about 5 aisles in the store, I'm pretty sure I'm in the right vicinity-- canned fruit and veg, soups and a couple of other categories that it could easily fit into. (Of course, I have never heard of or seen CC in my life.)


After my 4 year old starts to point to the various typed of canned pinapple (chunks, crushed, rings, in syrup, in water . . . you get the picture) and tell me he's found CC, I finally break down and ask a woman in store garb if she knows where it is. She asks a coworker up front at a cash register, who confirms that I am basically in the right place for where it used to be, but she is not sure if they still carry it. So, helper #1, comes back to my aisle, does a cursory check, to no avail, then says something to give me the impression that she is going to get more info for me . . .


WRONG!


I look up a couple of minutes later and she's sitting at the register next to helpful (but unfortunately tied to the register) woman ringing people up-- good thing I didn't wait for her to return, eh.


BTW, if you're ever looking for CC for the first time, it's in a little- maybe 2"x4"- package about the size of a pack of cigs, and feels like there's a block of hardened wax inside. I have yet to open it to see what I ended up searching so painstakingly for and eventually finding plenty of in the next two stalls I visited while buying other things on my list-- live and learn, eh.


Must be a Jamaican thang ;-)

No Vindaloo for YOU!

So we go to try a new curry joint last nite, and homeboy calmly, but firmly, REFUSES to sale us any vindaloo dish-- "it's too hot," he says. So, even here in London, we're treated like gringoes by the Bangladeshis that run many of the Indian food joints?!? (Not to mention, if it's SOOOOOO hot, who DO they actually serve it to??)

BTW, the Indian food here is REALLY good and plentiful-- kinda like Mexican food at home.

Thursday 1 November 2007

This doesn't look like a Milky Way!

Today I ate an (English) "Milky Way" candy bar from the office's post-Halloween stash. To my surprise, when I took a bite and looked inside, it looked like a "Three Muskateers". The taste, however, was distinctly Milky Way. I immediately thought, "Ah-ha, another English-American difference." (See: http://family-of-five.com/2007/09/, 22 SEP 07 post)

The cool thing about the wrapper is that the Allergy Disclaimer and the "Not for Individual Resale" warning (like there's a small enough monetary denomination to pay for THAT little piece of sh . . . , er, I mean, candy!?!) come in Polish, Serb, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, and of course, English-- only in Europe . . .

So I guess this is kinda fun for an initial foray (into this Blogging stuff), but I'm just warming up-- there are some other things that swirl around in my head form time-to-time.