My favorite spelling bee moment
n. fox-like
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
An interesting blog.
I'm not talking about mine. After stubbling upon this video I read his blog. Very long, very interesting. I couldn't ever read the whole thing but there were two interesting passages:
For my flight out, I sat next to an 83-year-old veteran from Eastern Washington who served in Tokyo at the end of WWII. He was assigned to guard the German embassy until its occupants could be shipped back to Germany. He'd come over from Europe where he served in the infantry, crossing through France into Dusseldorf and then sieging a small town near the border with Czechoslovakia.
His unit spent most of the war lost. Everyone was lost all the time, he said. The Germans removed all the signs and the maps were inaccurate, so they just wandered around hoping to stay alive. The town they attacked -- they completely missed where they were ordered to go. They only found it by accident, approaching from the rear at night, inadvertantly bypassing all the German defenses and taking the town without firing a shot.
and:
I had dinner tonight with two Sudanese priests. They’re here getting trained to deal with trauma victims in their country – which I am sure there is no shortage of. We had a fascinating conversation in which they explained the history of the Sudanese conflict. They had very thick accents and I could only understand about half of what they said, but it was a lot more than I knew before.
The thing that surprised me most was learning how pleased they are with the war in Iraq. It turns out the Iraqi government had been supporting the Arab leadership in Khartoum, providing weapons and money for their war against the Christians in the south. With Iraq crippled, the Sudanese government has lost their supplier and are suddenly scrambling. According to these priests, the current peace negotiations are the direct result of the Iraq war. Otherwise the Arabs wouldn’t even be at the table.
http://wherethehellismatt.typepad.com/blog/
For my flight out, I sat next to an 83-year-old veteran from Eastern Washington who served in Tokyo at the end of WWII. He was assigned to guard the German embassy until its occupants could be shipped back to Germany. He'd come over from Europe where he served in the infantry, crossing through France into Dusseldorf and then sieging a small town near the border with Czechoslovakia.
His unit spent most of the war lost. Everyone was lost all the time, he said. The Germans removed all the signs and the maps were inaccurate, so they just wandered around hoping to stay alive. The town they attacked -- they completely missed where they were ordered to go. They only found it by accident, approaching from the rear at night, inadvertantly bypassing all the German defenses and taking the town without firing a shot.
and:
I had dinner tonight with two Sudanese priests. They’re here getting trained to deal with trauma victims in their country – which I am sure there is no shortage of. We had a fascinating conversation in which they explained the history of the Sudanese conflict. They had very thick accents and I could only understand about half of what they said, but it was a lot more than I knew before.
The thing that surprised me most was learning how pleased they are with the war in Iraq. It turns out the Iraqi government had been supporting the Arab leadership in Khartoum, providing weapons and money for their war against the Christians in the south. With Iraq crippled, the Sudanese government has lost their supplier and are suddenly scrambling. According to these priests, the current peace negotiations are the direct result of the Iraq war. Otherwise the Arabs wouldn’t even be at the table.
http://wherethehellismatt.typepad.com/blog/
Monday, July 24, 2006
A short rant about sports
OK, I don't watch ESPN because I don't have a TV. But I do like sports so I check their webpage.
Some of the stuff on ESPN, to me, is just not a sport.
Golf. It's a HS sport, college sport, and their are pros. But to me, it's just not a sport...it's a game, yes. Sport, no.
Horse racing, car racing...or any other sport that doesn't require legs. Of course you have to push the gas pedal and keep yourself on the horse. I guess horse racing would count as a sport for the horses. Racing with cars is something for 15 year olds to do for fun while they are drunk. 500 laps around the track on your legs or a bike, that's a sport.
The Spelling Bee. While I actually don't mind watching this for a bit, and one of my favorite video highlights comes from this, it's still not a sport.
The dog show. I'm not sure why, but this is on ESPN once a year, maybe more often, I'm not sure. While I have never seen an actual pageant (for people), I imagine that the dog show is similar...but for dogs. I would rather watch the people kind.
Bowling. Yes, it takes practice, there is pressure and money to be won...kind of like golf. But this is something for families to do with kids on their birthdays or for groups of men like Al Bundy with nothing else to do. It's a social thing.
Fishing and hunting. While I like participating in these, they're hobbies, pastimes, ways to get food, but not sports. Catching the animals with your barehands (assuming they could potentially kill you) and killing them, that would be a sport.
That's all I can think of at the moment. I am sure there are others that ESPN shows now and again. There should be some kind of criteria for something to be a sport. I think it must require endurance, athleticism, competition against another person. If there are teams it must require teamwork. If it's at the "pro" level and there is no disabled list then I wonder. Sports require athletic tape, sweat and stitches. Defense and offense...angry fans and rude chanting...trashtalk and carbo-loading. If the best "players" couldn't run a mile under ten minutes or do at least 30 pushups...then it's not a sport (I think all NFL offensive linemen as well as every women in a real sport would meet this criteria with ease.)
What's sad to me is that ESPN wouldn't have this kind of programming if it wasn't getting ratings. Really, who watches bowling or fishing on TV?
Some of the stuff on ESPN, to me, is just not a sport.
Golf. It's a HS sport, college sport, and their are pros. But to me, it's just not a sport...it's a game, yes. Sport, no.
Horse racing, car racing...or any other sport that doesn't require legs. Of course you have to push the gas pedal and keep yourself on the horse. I guess horse racing would count as a sport for the horses. Racing with cars is something for 15 year olds to do for fun while they are drunk. 500 laps around the track on your legs or a bike, that's a sport.
The Spelling Bee. While I actually don't mind watching this for a bit, and one of my favorite video highlights comes from this, it's still not a sport.
The dog show. I'm not sure why, but this is on ESPN once a year, maybe more often, I'm not sure. While I have never seen an actual pageant (for people), I imagine that the dog show is similar...but for dogs. I would rather watch the people kind.
Bowling. Yes, it takes practice, there is pressure and money to be won...kind of like golf. But this is something for families to do with kids on their birthdays or for groups of men like Al Bundy with nothing else to do. It's a social thing.
Fishing and hunting. While I like participating in these, they're hobbies, pastimes, ways to get food, but not sports. Catching the animals with your barehands (assuming they could potentially kill you) and killing them, that would be a sport.
That's all I can think of at the moment. I am sure there are others that ESPN shows now and again. There should be some kind of criteria for something to be a sport. I think it must require endurance, athleticism, competition against another person. If there are teams it must require teamwork. If it's at the "pro" level and there is no disabled list then I wonder. Sports require athletic tape, sweat and stitches. Defense and offense...angry fans and rude chanting...trashtalk and carbo-loading. If the best "players" couldn't run a mile under ten minutes or do at least 30 pushups...then it's not a sport (I think all NFL offensive linemen as well as every women in a real sport would meet this criteria with ease.)
What's sad to me is that ESPN wouldn't have this kind of programming if it wasn't getting ratings. Really, who watches bowling or fishing on TV?
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Stopping and starting all over
I'm back from Central America. I am in Minneapolis with nothing to do for the next month. Looking for a house and a cheap car. I start school at the end of August and I am looking forward to studying like mad. So to end my almost 2 years of being away, here are some final thoughts on each place.
7 months in Hawaii. Nice ocean, nice weather. Lots of things to do. Horrible traffic and everyone has little dogs that bark all the time because they don't take care of them.
1 year in Japan. Lots of money to be made at a miserable job. Everything is small and if you want to understand things you just have to think of what is logical and then plan for the opposite. People take care of their dogs better than most people in some countries take care of their children. The transportation system is excellent. People are almost too respectful and they could eliminate their police force and crime would probably not increase at all. Also everything is very expensive.
Central Am./Mex. Keep all valuables safe. Never put your "carry on bag" on the bus rack above your head. Overall people are really nice but poverty and constant nagging caused me to avoid lots of conversations. Lots of people missing limbs. Lots of starving dogs with no place to go. Firecrackers, roosters, cars with no exhaust pipe, horns honking...all starting at about 5am. Cheap delicious food but it doesn't like to solidify in your digestive system.
Minneapolis. Familiar. Requires a car to get places that are more than a few miles away. Inconvenient bus system. Taxes (if you work). Expensive tuition and well trained quiet dogs. The end of Mark's blog...unless my boredom for the next month causes me to rant about losers in Lebanon or Mixed Martial Arts.
Adios for now.
Marcos
7 months in Hawaii. Nice ocean, nice weather. Lots of things to do. Horrible traffic and everyone has little dogs that bark all the time because they don't take care of them.
1 year in Japan. Lots of money to be made at a miserable job. Everything is small and if you want to understand things you just have to think of what is logical and then plan for the opposite. People take care of their dogs better than most people in some countries take care of their children. The transportation system is excellent. People are almost too respectful and they could eliminate their police force and crime would probably not increase at all. Also everything is very expensive.
Central Am./Mex. Keep all valuables safe. Never put your "carry on bag" on the bus rack above your head. Overall people are really nice but poverty and constant nagging caused me to avoid lots of conversations. Lots of people missing limbs. Lots of starving dogs with no place to go. Firecrackers, roosters, cars with no exhaust pipe, horns honking...all starting at about 5am. Cheap delicious food but it doesn't like to solidify in your digestive system.
Minneapolis. Familiar. Requires a car to get places that are more than a few miles away. Inconvenient bus system. Taxes (if you work). Expensive tuition and well trained quiet dogs. The end of Mark's blog...unless my boredom for the next month causes me to rant about losers in Lebanon or Mixed Martial Arts.
Adios for now.
Marcos
Monday, July 10, 2006
Drama in Mexico and Jiu Jitsu 101
So as the title suggests, there was a little drama in Mexico two nights ago. Also, since I always write about BJJ and nobody knows (or cares)anything about it I will be introducing some possibly new terms.
It all started at about 4am. I was in a hostel sleeping, as I often am at this hour. I awake to the sound of 8 girls screaming their lungs out. My thought was the same as every other guy who has been in this situation..."girls, it´s early, please shutup." After about 10-15 seconds of screaming I put on my glasses and went over to the ladies dorm. They were crying and flapping around their hands like flightless birds. They explained to me that some Mexican dude had been under one of the beds. Upon being found he jumped out of the window...the same one he came in.
The window (second floor) had the glass panels removed and there was a ladder under it that he had placed there. I pulled the ladder up through the window and was shining a flashlight around all the bushes (outside of the window was basically a junkyard). I was assuming he was in the bushes so I was talking to him, pretending like I could see him.
The neighbors were all up due to girl screams and said that they found him but wanted one of the girls to identify him. I walked down with one of the girls and she confirmed it. The neighbor was holding a big stick from the junkyard and had him cornered. They called the police but for some reason (maybe because it´s Mexico) there was no answer. So the neighbor boy took off on his bike to go get the police. I sat down on the curb blocking the guy´s exit.
After a couple minutes Mr. Pervert decides he´s going to make a break for it. That´s when our hero, we´ll call him Mark (aka the World´s Most Dangerous White Belt) demonstrates his love for martial arts with a double leg take down.
From there I went into the Mount.
Realizing that he may get the beating of a lifetime, our 130 pound villian gave up.
I was giving him the option to turn over because for a long time I have been wanting to Rear Naked Choke someone out, but he had apparently had enough.
At this point I felt sorry for him. Sooner than later, the police arrived (led by a boy on a bicycle), handcuffed him, and threw him in the back of their truck. The girls were still busy doing their little flightless bird dance and the guys were sleeping.
So to conclude, because this happened at 4 in the morning, he must have been sitting in there for a long time because nobody saw him enter. Thus, he must be desperate and retarded. He had a bunch of blood dripping from his face and he was too injured to outrun an old fat man with a stick. And as I mentioned earlier, he was about 130-140. But just so you know, if he hadn´t been injured while jumping out of a second story building into a junkyard, was a little bigger and sane I would have still OWNED him.
Also, girls should stop screaming at spiders, mice and little crap like that because if something screamworthy actually happens nobody will care. There were six guys in our room and only two of us even went out. While I held the guy down the other guy told him in crappy Spanish (with an Italian accent) that if he ran we were going to kill him. I was trying not to laugh. The pictures are not from last night but I do kind of look like the little kid in red. They are from internet searches so sorry if they are copywritten or something.
This morning I went cave diving.
PS. AFter I wrote this blog I had to go to the police station to testify. They told me that the guy was drunk...so probably not retarded then.
It all started at about 4am. I was in a hostel sleeping, as I often am at this hour. I awake to the sound of 8 girls screaming their lungs out. My thought was the same as every other guy who has been in this situation..."girls, it´s early, please shutup." After about 10-15 seconds of screaming I put on my glasses and went over to the ladies dorm. They were crying and flapping around their hands like flightless birds. They explained to me that some Mexican dude had been under one of the beds. Upon being found he jumped out of the window...the same one he came in.
The window (second floor) had the glass panels removed and there was a ladder under it that he had placed there. I pulled the ladder up through the window and was shining a flashlight around all the bushes (outside of the window was basically a junkyard). I was assuming he was in the bushes so I was talking to him, pretending like I could see him.
The neighbors were all up due to girl screams and said that they found him but wanted one of the girls to identify him. I walked down with one of the girls and she confirmed it. The neighbor was holding a big stick from the junkyard and had him cornered. They called the police but for some reason (maybe because it´s Mexico) there was no answer. So the neighbor boy took off on his bike to go get the police. I sat down on the curb blocking the guy´s exit.
After a couple minutes Mr. Pervert decides he´s going to make a break for it. That´s when our hero, we´ll call him Mark (aka the World´s Most Dangerous White Belt) demonstrates his love for martial arts with a double leg take down.
From there I went into the Mount.
Realizing that he may get the beating of a lifetime, our 130 pound villian gave up.
I was giving him the option to turn over because for a long time I have been wanting to Rear Naked Choke someone out, but he had apparently had enough.
At this point I felt sorry for him. Sooner than later, the police arrived (led by a boy on a bicycle), handcuffed him, and threw him in the back of their truck. The girls were still busy doing their little flightless bird dance and the guys were sleeping. So to conclude, because this happened at 4 in the morning, he must have been sitting in there for a long time because nobody saw him enter. Thus, he must be desperate and retarded. He had a bunch of blood dripping from his face and he was too injured to outrun an old fat man with a stick. And as I mentioned earlier, he was about 130-140. But just so you know, if he hadn´t been injured while jumping out of a second story building into a junkyard, was a little bigger and sane I would have still OWNED him.
Also, girls should stop screaming at spiders, mice and little crap like that because if something screamworthy actually happens nobody will care. There were six guys in our room and only two of us even went out. While I held the guy down the other guy told him in crappy Spanish (with an Italian accent) that if he ran we were going to kill him. I was trying not to laugh. The pictures are not from last night but I do kind of look like the little kid in red. They are from internet searches so sorry if they are copywritten or something.
This morning I went cave diving.
PS. AFter I wrote this blog I had to go to the police station to testify. They told me that the guy was drunk...so probably not retarded then.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
To do list
I have a very big to do list. And it´s full of very big things. Some of the bigger things are this, the order is yet to be determined and it is something I change my mind about every few hours.
I have to take chemistry, physics, psychology, human anatomy and physiology. I also have to go to tech school for two years and then work for one year. I can´t decide which I want to do first. The first one would mean I have to take out a loan (maybe the second one will require that anyway). It would also mean that I could get all those out of the way. The second option would allow me some income a year earlier. I don´t know what to do and I hate that.
Some other things off the top of my head...
a cellphone
a car and insurance
a place to live
loan applications
open a bank account
It´s kind of like I´m moving to a new city, except I´ve lived there almost my whole life. Do people drive mopeds in the winter? I know they did on Dumb and Dumber and everything seemed to work out for them, and they were even dumb.
I also need to buy a blender. I want a huge one.
Travel news. I spent the day travelling to cenotes with some dude I met at the hostel. He is the first guy I´ve met in about a week that didn´t seem to annoy me. I´m pretty sure I pulled him away from a few people that were annoying him. Es la vida.
I have to take chemistry, physics, psychology, human anatomy and physiology. I also have to go to tech school for two years and then work for one year. I can´t decide which I want to do first. The first one would mean I have to take out a loan (maybe the second one will require that anyway). It would also mean that I could get all those out of the way. The second option would allow me some income a year earlier. I don´t know what to do and I hate that.
Some other things off the top of my head...
a cellphone
a car and insurance
a place to live
loan applications
open a bank account
It´s kind of like I´m moving to a new city, except I´ve lived there almost my whole life. Do people drive mopeds in the winter? I know they did on Dumb and Dumber and everything seemed to work out for them, and they were even dumb.
I also need to buy a blender. I want a huge one.
Travel news. I spent the day travelling to cenotes with some dude I met at the hostel. He is the first guy I´ve met in about a week that didn´t seem to annoy me. I´m pretty sure I pulled him away from a few people that were annoying him. Es la vida.
Monday, July 03, 2006
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