Inspiring Thoughts

Now, here's an inspiring commencement speech!

More on my Thanksgiving fumbles, on forgetting airplane schedules and the like... once I've finished my work for the day :)

On this block...

On Coffee & Friendly Observations

Before 8:30am, I'd already had my first meeting of the day.

Having managed to shatter my beloved and reliable coffee maker in the bathroom last week, I hastened to Starbucks to buy a shot of Elixir of Life. Well, they call it expresso. But you know what I think of American coffee-makers.

I was sharing these and similar thoughts with my dear friend -r2--by phone, by the way, as this fair damsel hasn't even DRESSED yet by 8:30am. Beastly luxury. At any rate, I was unburdening my soul to this dear friend, when she wryly notes that at least I haven't lost my "scorn and superiority complex regarding American coffee" first thing in the am. I must be guilty as charged, for the comment did not ruffle my feathers as much as it puffed them up. Zoikes! However, one might say instead that AMERICAN COFFEE is guilty as charged. Like I say. Of being ridiculous. Weak. Without character or stamina. Without sensuality. Far too overstated. I mean seriously, Starbucks uses Italian words to describe the size of the cup--yet another piece of evidence that they misunderstand the value of Italian coffee to be in quantity, rather than in quality.

Italian coffee doesn't need fancy falutin' language to let you know its perfection. A cappuccino is a cappuccino. An expresso is an expresso. End of story.

So, back to my tale of woe.

I needed caffeine, I won't lie to you. I decided an expresso would do the trick. But would a Starbucks expresso? So, I considered getting a double expresso, instead... By the time I got to the front of the line, I had decided to order two double expressos.

Get this.

They call it Quad Expresso.

Doesn't that just SCREAM "our coffee isn't strong enough"????? Why yes, gentle reader, it does.

I bought a quad. *snort*

Ask Not For Whom the Dell Tolls...

My computer is also kaput. I get a call from the computer repair guy. He asks me to read the service tag from the hard-drive. I read the series of numbers and letters. He reads them back, but mishears one letter. I help out:

He says: "So that's 'D' as in Dell?"

I say: "No, it's 'B' as in Bell."

Ahem. The last digit of the series was a '1'. In reading it out, I say: "That's '1' as in 'you one-t some of this?'"

Hm. Maybe the caffeine is working. A bit. Although for a QUADRUPLE expresso, I'm not that impressed. Grr. But that must be my innate "scorn and superiority complex" coming through.

Walking Into Doors, Looking Out of Windows

One Moment of Ordinary Life

I was up late the other night, reading and underlining portions of my Russian version of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." One must study Russian any way one can. To make sure I didn't wake my roommie with the noise or light, I shut the door between the bedroom area of the house and the livingroom/kitchen area of the house.

Fascinating as Khagrid and Garry Potter were in their travails about Diagon Alley, it was not long before I shut the book and set off to bed. I turned off the light and traipsed to the bathroom. I thought.

Instead, I bounced off the shut door, setting off a resounding BAM throughout the house. So much for not waking her.

My Just Desserts

I had some friends over for dinner the other week. I decided to skimp on making dessert from scratch, though, and bought an instant cheesecake mix. I would say that it was a resounding success. Not the appearance, perhaps, of what was soon renamed the "Cheese Fluff Crater," but at the very least the humour element that should always be present at dinner parties at the host's expense. I suppose I should mention that the Crater was served (and made) in a large glass bowl as I could not find a cake dish. So, the crust crept up the sides of the bowl, and the "cheesecake mix" was spread along inside it, in a distinct "crater" shape. A unique dessert experience was had by all, and of course, my newer friends were regaled with tales of my previous cake disasters by my older friends...

Mention was made of "Sweet Gunk," which I made one day with the help of a porn model, and which my former roommie insists tasted like Tiramisu eventhough it looked like gunk. Personally, I thought it looked like Tiramisu, but tasted like gunk. Oh well.

And then there was my "Chocolate Frittatta Crunch" which was based on a soft, delicious rich dessert my mom makes, and which does not include (in the original) scrambled eggs with chocolate, as my mishappen variation did. I forced my guests at this particular party to eat of this cake and say something good about it before moving on to other sustenance/water. I believe the first comment was "What a unique texture!" followed up by "Why, I've never had anything quite like this before!," and of course "How did you think to put these disparate ingredients together in quite this way?" I would say it rivals my Mongolian Lamb disaster of last winter.

Ah, memories...

And, Because No Blog is Complete Without Mention of Russia...

A picture from the Altai Republic (courtesy of Greenpeace)


Another Altai pic (also courtesy of Greenpeace)


From the Russian Caucasus, the republic of Krasnodarsky Krai (thanks, Greenpeace)


Lake Kardyvatch, also in Krasnodarsky Krai (courtesy of Greenpeace)


And the Kiril island chain (sorry, Japan) (thanks, Greenpeace)


They say this is from Kaliningrad... (!!!) (courtesy of Greenpeace)


You may now return to your regular programming.

Phenomenal

I seem to recall that we had a rush of terrorism strike us in the very early 1900s, although the cause sited was "anarchism." It would be interesting to compare the reasoning and the symptoms of distress just before that happened, with what's happening now.

This particular article is about the fact that of the four known bombers in Jordan the other week, (at least) one was a woman. Not just that, she was the wife of one of them. She, like him, was strapped with explosives. When she fumbled with her own explosive belt, or it didn't go off, her husband got her out of the building before returning to blow himself and the hotel guests away.

I found that last set of decisions of his rather interesting. I also wonder about her, and what got her there... More and more women involved in terrorism...

Who was doing the bombing in the early 1900s?

Whatever Works?

An interesting article in the NYT today. With some interesting editorial commentary inserted... Here's an exerpt with a few comments in italics :)

When Cleaner Air Is a Biblical Obligation
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY, November 7, 2005

...With increasing vigor, evangelical groups that are part of the base of conservative support for leading Republicans are campaigning for laws that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which scientists have linked with global warming.

...Environmentalists rely on empirical evidence as their rationale for Congressional action, and many evangelicals further believe that protecting the planet from human activities that cause global warming is a values issue that fulfills Biblical teachings asking humans to be good stewards of the earth.

("Genesis 2:15," ...:"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.")

...A major obstacle to any measure that would address global warming is Senator James M. Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and an evangelical himself, but a skeptic of climate change caused by human activities.

..."You can always find in Scriptures a passage to misquote for almost anything," Mr. Inhofe said in an interview, dismissing the position of Mr. Cizik's association as "something very strange."
Mr. Inhofe said the vast majority of the nation's evangelical groups would oppose global warming legislation as inconsistent with a conservative agenda that also includes opposition to abortion rights and gay rights. He said the National Evangelical Association had been "led down a liberal path" by environmentalists and others who have convinced the group that issues like poverty and the environment are worth their efforts. Is that truly the man's opinions? Sounds like a little NYT commentary here, slamming Inhofe.

...While he was reluctant to predict its potential political impact, (National Association of Evangelicals vice president for governmental affairs) said, "I don't think there's a Republican running for the White House in 2008 who will not have to deal with the emergence of evangelicals on creation care." Ah, jargon. This means taking care of our environment, because of God's will.