What the frost?

Who would have thunk it? It could only happen to me. I leave cold, gray Berlin to come to Phoenix, Arizona with full expectations of sun and warm temperatures. So what greets me on my second morning? You guessed it, frost.

It was on everything. But may I say that it was simply sad to see it on a picnic table.

My brother suggested that we could probably write our names... but since all I could think was "WTF? FROST in PHOENIX?" I decided I would use that word instead.

Palm trees and frost? How does that work?

The other shots are of frost which was layered on the closed top of a convertable car. Maybe that is actually more sad than frost on top of a picnic table.

Seasons Greetings!

I would like to wish you and yours a happy Holiday Season.
May peace, love and joy be yours during this wonderful time and follow you into the New Year.

It has been a quiet season so far around here. I'm in preparations for a trip to see my Mother in Phoenix. It is the second trip back to the States in as many months. I feel like a real jet-setter!

While I'm there my oldest brother and I will pop up to Pasadena, CA to watch the Rose Bowl. It should be an experience!

Poor Mimi the Vespa. Today the sun actually came out for a few moments. Before it could disappear completely I thought I would hop on Mimi for a little ride. BUT, she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't start for me. Poor little girl. Mommy didn't have enough time to get the bottom of the problem so she will just have to wait until I get back.

OK, I'm going to go pack up the rest of my stuff. Maybe I'll set a record and be completely packed within twelve hours of my flight... NAH!

Random Babbling

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas... but watch out for the knives.
One of the clients where I work sent us a two foot tall chocolate Santa. The first day it came he stood at the reception desk in all of his delectable glory. But there were so many other tempting treats around, Santa wasn't even bothered.

Yesterday morning that all changed. As I walked to my office I saw that Santa had been taken out of his plastic and a murder weapon was stuck in his back. Poor guy. Rather sick group of people I work with, eh?

Changing tracks:
The strangest thing has been happening to me of late, and I'm just weird enough to have noticed it. As I come home on the subway in the evenings I realize that as the train I've just exited prepares to leave, the train coming from the other direction is just pulling into the station. After the third time this happened I started paying attention to it, now I am up to seven consecutive occurrences. With trains coming every five minutes or so, and only sitting still about 30 seconds, I would think the odds are really low for this to take place so often.

It is not as though I notice this at the same time every day. My timing is always rather varied. Sometimes I get off work on the hour straight up, sometimes 10 minutes or even an hour late. It even happened to me this last weekend. Surely other people experience such random coincidences. The question is... are they abnormal enough to have actually noticed that it was happening to them? Reminds me of something I did a long time ago about the 20 most amazing coincidences.

I am a personal assistant at my job. This means I do all kinds of things, my job is always changing. No, my boss is nothing like "The Devil Wears Prada", she is a sweetheart who is almost apologetic when she needs to ask me to do something. Just recently she's been horribly busy with the job and with life and was talking about how she needed to buy a Christmas present for her young son. She hinted at it a bit, and then I ran with it... I suggested that I could pick it up for her. The cool thing... I got to go buy a Wii and a game and some other cool gaming stuff. AND I didn't have to PAY for it. But then I don't get to play with it either. Dammit.

Interesting side note:
About four months before I bought my baby-blue Vespa (Mimi) my boss had asked me to prepare an information sheet on a gift she was buying for her boyfriend. It was a special edition baby-blue Vespa very much like the one I ended up buying just a short time later. Maybe history will repeat itself? Maybe Santa will bring me a Wii too? Eh, something makes me doubt it.

Speaking of presents. How well do you have to know each other to not only decide to secretly buy the exact same present for each other... but to figure out that the other person has decided to buy it for you? N. sat me down a few days ago and by process of elimination confirmed her suspicion that my present to her would be tickets to a show starting soon at Theater Des Westens, "Der Schuh des Manitu". After she came to the conclusion, she mentioned that she too had been working on that same plan. Oh man. Coincidence or just cool? I hope that my request for tickets to see the Eagles at the O2 Arena in June will not fall on deaf ears.

The average German's nose turns up at the mere hint of an objectionable smell. The ironic thing is that the average German toilet seems to be purpose-built to hold any solid waste open to the air and thus spread any smell. My office toilets thankfully are the "normal" kind which can be found almost anywhere else in the civilized world. BUT, the whole German nose thing comes into play nonetheless. Why MUST we open the windows in the water closet in the middle of winter?

May I just say that when the temperature outside is hovering in the freezing range that it isn't such a nice thing to walk into a toilet stall with a wide-open window? This allows the super-cooled outside air to proportionately super-cool the marble on the walls in the room. Not to mention the feeling of being close to a sub-zero "Porcelain God".

Another track:
It sucks to be on the eastern edge of a time zone in December. The shortest day of the year is approaching and I can't wait to get beyond it. This crap of sunrise at 8.30 and sunset at 4.00 is bad enough. BUT! Remember that the sky is completely gray most days in this part of the world, which obscures what little sun we might get. This makes it FEEL like sunrise is about 9.45 and sunset 3.15. Yes ladies and gentlemen, that is a SHORT day.

Thanks for letting me bitch babble.
Now on with your regularly scheduled programming...

Been reading:

• Bush brushes off shoe attack - Bush is such a goober. Inauguration Day can't come fast enough for me.
  
  
• Adam Walsh case is closed after 27 years - This is so sad. But the death of his son lead John Walsh to help change the way crimes are solved in America. This is a good thing. His show was in my regular rotation for years. I'm happy for the family that they now have some closure, but sad that the killer is long gone.
  
  
• Joe Paterno's story at Penn State never gets old - Give 'em hell at the Rose Bowl Joe!
  
  
• Berlin Gay Memorial Vandalized - I guess that I don't even know WHAT to say to this. I'm just sad.
  
  
• Drunkenfreude - This article is interesting on many angles. Not the least of which is that the word itself is based off of a German word which is becoming more popular in English circles, Schadenfreude.

W Shoe'd By Iraqi Reporter

One of my favorite reads came up with a video that still has me giggling periodically.

Oh my! I wonder what the new security protocol will be when having a press conference with the President? Will everyone need to be naked, or is it just shoes which will be considered dangerous?
Seriously though. How bad can this man's opinion be of the President of the United States for him to go to such lengths? How much further can America fall in the eyes of the world?

I especially loved Ian's comment, "Notice the quick reaction Bush has? It’s all that practice ducking responsibility."

Been reading:

• Iraqi shoe-throwing reporter becomes the talk of Iraq - See above... geeze
  
  
• Germany to decide on new economic stimulus late next month - This is causing quite a stir in the EU. Germany seems to be snubbing its nose at the solutions offered by some of the greatest financial minds in the world. I wonder what the deal is?
  
  
• Same-sex couples denied EU right to freedom of movement - Remember, it is not just the US that restricts the rights of gays and lesbians.
  
  
• World Toilet Day and the perilous poo platform - Oh the German shelf toilet. I'm told that the shelf is there so you can check your health. Funny, my Mother told me that all we needed to do was to check the floating status of our poo to gauge our health. (Floating means you have enough fiber) Are the Germans saying that my Mother is wrong!?!
  
  
• How Germans Really See English Ad Slogans - I've often wondered how much the average German understands when they read some of the slogans around town. Of course right off the top of my head I can't think of some of the worst ones...

Amy Goodman in Berlin

Award-winning journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! was in Berlin to mark DN's 12th anniversary and to promote her newest book, "Standing Up To the Madness - Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times".

The theme of her speech was the importance of a free and independent media and it really resounded with me. Being back in the States just a few weeks ago reminded me how much the American people are fed only what the government wants them to hear. This was not news. I saw Brittney Spears on NBC Nightly News... this is just shameful.

You may remember Ms. Goodman. She along with many others was arrested while reporting on the Republican National Convention in St. Paul earlier this year. So much for the American free press. The video doesn't tell the whole story, for that you will have to go here.

The speech was great, and I picked up her "Standing Up to the Madness" book (which I got signed of course) for later reading. She'll be in Munich Saturday night. If you are in the area, I highly suggest checking it out.

Been reading:

• Worried About Thanksgiving (holiday) Fights with Right-Wing Family Members? - Oh MY! Why oh WHY didn't I have this lovely list with me over Thanksgiving? That's OK, I'm taking to memorizing it by Christmas.
  
  
• Fought Over Any Good Books Lately? - Interesting, considering that a book club to which I belong is having difficulties lately.
  
  
• Critics split over Cruise's Nazi role The Germans I know are really split on this. This guy is a hero to them, one of a few which even tried to stand up to Hitler. Having Cruise play him should bring out the fact that there was an active resistance. This is better than the idea that every time you see a German in a movie that he is a bad guy.
  
  
• Report pins detainee abuse on Rumsfeld - Finally. Now, let's put the bastard in Guantanamo.

I'm ashamed to admit it, but it is true

This morning like most mornings recently, I took the bus to work. I've been trying to get some extra reading done and the trip to the office in the bus takes ten minutes longer than the subway. It also gives me some fresh air and probably the day's only daylight on these short, gray winter days.

On this bus trip I found myself getting more and more involved in the book. When it came time to change buses, I barely looked left or right as I haltingly walked to the second bus with my nose still embedded in the book.

The second bus only takes me about seven stops, so it is the shortest of my trip and I normally stay on the bottom level. My subconscious mind listens and tics off the names of the stops as they come and go.

As a particularly gripping point in the book had passed, my mind must have come to the surface for a moment as a strange bus stop name was called. At first I thought that I had misheard the call, but it didn't take long to realize that what the "BUS VOICE WOMAN" had called out was two stops BEYOND my stop. DUH.

What was this literary masterpiece which had held my interest so deeply? What on earth could I have been reading which could hold my subconscious hostage in such a way? Was it Dumas, Shakespeare, Dickens? Could it have been Verne, Wells, or Twain? No, Meyer. Meyer you ask? Stephanie Meyer the author of the Twilight series. Yeah, the teenage vampire thing that has young ladies all over the world enthralled, eventually being made into a movie. Yup, I was so deeply engrossed in the third book of the Twilight series that I missed my bus stop. I'm betting that I don't sleep through the movie.

All of this for a book written by a Mormon who seems to be giving a message to young women that holding off for sex* is alright but lying to your father and your friends while doing things like riding a motorcycle illegally and letting your boyfriend sleep over every night without parental consent is really cool. Besides that it teaches these same girls that having a creepy boyfriend who your father doesn't like that manages to stalk you every waking moment is not only cool, but totally dreamy.

In my defense this morning's pages were about the history of a tribe of Indians and how they became the nemesis of the vampires... It was well told and rather interesting.

* My theory is that the lesson to be learned in this is that the mortal girl wants to "go all the way" (thinly veiled sexual thing) with the vampire, (she wants him to make her a vampire too) but he is practicing abstinence, never letting her even get to the heavy petting stage lest he not be able to control himself and really bite her. Yeah, yeah... we know Edward.

At 2 years old, Cute Knut isn't so cute anymore

Oh poor Knut. It sucks to grow up and not be as cute as you once were. I know exactly how ya feel, buddy. I was one sweet little toehead with huge green eyes. At the age of four I could wink and grown men would fly to my aid, granting my every wish. But now... well.

At first when he started to grow up he could still go by the name Cute Knut and get away with it. Heck, he even inspired N. and me to go to the Berlin Zoo, plunk down 11EUR and gape at the fuzzy orphan.

But Knut, that money-making polar bear, can't get any respect. Today he turns two years old and his Berlin keepers really can't afford to have him anymore. The sweet little guy has had his fifteen minutes of fame complete with his own movie, a song in his honor and even featured on Vanity Fair Deutschland.

But all that money from stuffed toys must have disappeared, because Knut isn't seeing any of it. His enclosure is just barely big enough to keep him, let alone some lady bears to make him happy and maybe even start a family. Mom and Dad are just around the corner, but their place is just too small, and they have some other creepy old guys hanging out there.

To make matters worse for the not so cuddly (anymore) guy, his "daddy", trainer Thomas Dörflein, died earlier this year. Now they haven't been able to play together for some time since Knut's gotten big enough to hurt the zoo keeper that hand raised him. But Knut has "seen him around", and enjoyed that at least. As far as I know his death has been ruled a natural one. But still, it is sad.

What is a distraught teenager to do?

So, Happy 2nd Birthday Knut!
Maybe by next year you will have found a new home with some cool ladies to entertain and a new-found respect.

Oh and hey, you made the Today Show again, congratulations!

Gay Marriage will save the American economy!

OMG! I just saw this posted by Sarah over at Regensblog. If you are a regular reader, I'm sorry for the duplication, but I just had to share.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Wow! Some stars came out for this one. The points are good, too bad that the voters in San Francisco didn't step up to the plate and actually vote. Duh, how do you expect to get the rights you want when you can't even get your voting block to the polls? Oh well, the video is cute as hell.