Course, I've only been out of Germany for a couple of days....and Arlington is kinda different.
First, roads here are like what you'd find in Poland. Not to say nothing bad about those Poles.....but Arlington and the outlying area has crappy roads.
Second, about every third guy I run into within Arlington......is a guy from El Salvador or Mexico. They all seem friendly and such. It's just an odd thing how many of these guys are working and living around the Arlington area.
Third, you just can't find a decent place for a 4-star breakfast. I had high expectations.....and frankly, the Ramstein golf course is starting to look alot better now.
Fourth, you just don't see car accidents.....which is shocking when compared against Germany.
Fifth, there are alot of folks there.....in their sixties and seventies.....retired.....and living in a high cost area. I can't understand why they'd punish themselves like this. There has to be some obsession about living here in the DC area.
Sixth, incompetence is a fairly common thing that I seem to run into. A smart guy could run a 1,000-man operation here.
Seventh, everyone is real damn friendly....which is a shocker in coming from Germany and getting the old "evil-eye" from Germans most everywhere you'd go.
Eight, within a 2-mile area of my apartment....there are twenty ethnic restaurants. We aren't talking about regular Mexican establishments.....we are talking full up Tex-Mex, El Salvadoran, Honduran, Pakistani, Afghan, etc. In fact, other than a Wendys, and two pizza establishments....there's just nothing of a regular routine American nature around my entire neighborhood.
Nine, as I've come to grasp....this is up-town Arlington (where the yuppies live), and there's old Arlington....where I live.
Ten, between 7 and 9 AM....nine of every ten people I see...have a coffee cup in their hand. They drink a ton of coffee around here.
Eleven, there are around eight radio stations with political propaganda of varying differences. Even C-SPAN runs a station. I've also noticed about twenty stations in the local area that air Spanish-language programming.
Twelve and final.....I've come to notice squirrels almost everywhere I go.....where trees are around. In an average year in Germany....I might notice four squirrels. I've noted twenty today alone.
Thursday, 7 January 2010
The Fatties
‘When the aliens come, they will eat the fatties first.’
This is the ad campaign of a major British gym and health club...into the new year. To be honest..alot of Brits are furious about this slogan and getting more hostile as each day passes.
Being from Bama.....I pondered this long and hard.
First, you'd have to assume that aliens only eat Earthlings....which has never been proven, yet.
Second, you'd have to assume that aliens prefer a bit of fat on their meat, which also has not been proven, yet.
Third, if you were an alien, and come all this way to Earth.....wouldn't you prefer Catfish over an Earthling?
I had a problem in seeing how this would all work, but then you'd need a fair amount of imagination to see a alien in the first place.
So all these Brits are looking at this ad....getting upset.....getting worried.....getting disturbed.....and started to think on Earthlings being a bit of tasty meal for some alien dude. Frankly, I think they've got a pretty good life....if this is the worst that they can worry about. If I were a British guy.....I'd be more worried about meeting some nice looking, lusty, and gorgeous British gal......which would be just about impossible to come across.
This is the ad campaign of a major British gym and health club...into the new year. To be honest..alot of Brits are furious about this slogan and getting more hostile as each day passes.
Being from Bama.....I pondered this long and hard.
First, you'd have to assume that aliens only eat Earthlings....which has never been proven, yet.
Second, you'd have to assume that aliens prefer a bit of fat on their meat, which also has not been proven, yet.
Third, if you were an alien, and come all this way to Earth.....wouldn't you prefer Catfish over an Earthling?
I had a problem in seeing how this would all work, but then you'd need a fair amount of imagination to see a alien in the first place.
So all these Brits are looking at this ad....getting upset.....getting worried.....getting disturbed.....and started to think on Earthlings being a bit of tasty meal for some alien dude. Frankly, I think they've got a pretty good life....if this is the worst that they can worry about. If I were a British guy.....I'd be more worried about meeting some nice looking, lusty, and gorgeous British gal......which would be just about impossible to come across.
Greece
If you haven't been following the government of Greece lately......they've kinda fallen, and can't get up.
Financially, they've finally come to admit that they pretty much in a California-state of mind. They have a huge revenue & tax issue.....and they can't cut the budget in a fashion to save the country. Even the President there has kinda admitted in public that things are awful bad.
So someone got around to asking the EU if they might be ready to help out Greece......like the Feds will help California in the next couple of months. And the EU said "no".
So this kinda puts everything in Greece into a crisis mood. Either they cut a massive deal across the public sector....to include education and welfare....or they come to a failure point with the government likely failing.
The thing with all of these political figures.....from California to Greece.....is that they owe lots of people. And screwing over those potential voters or associates...just ain't a thing that you'd like to imagine. So you are between a rock and a hard place.
Financially, they've finally come to admit that they pretty much in a California-state of mind. They have a huge revenue & tax issue.....and they can't cut the budget in a fashion to save the country. Even the President there has kinda admitted in public that things are awful bad.
So someone got around to asking the EU if they might be ready to help out Greece......like the Feds will help California in the next couple of months. And the EU said "no".
So this kinda puts everything in Greece into a crisis mood. Either they cut a massive deal across the public sector....to include education and welfare....or they come to a failure point with the government likely failing.
The thing with all of these political figures.....from California to Greece.....is that they owe lots of people. And screwing over those potential voters or associates...just ain't a thing that you'd like to imagine. So you are between a rock and a hard place.
California Tax Credit
The governor of California laid out this wonderful tax credit....to entice you to build a house. It's around $10k...and there is a limited budget for it.
What I found curious about this.....is that they have all these empty houses sitting there....because of the housing market crash. Banks are begging to sell at below normal prices (even forty percent). The job market is pretty well screwed and not going anywhere because of all the current taxes.
So I sat there.....pondering....what idiot would want to build a new house in California? Frankly.....I can't think of anyone.
What I found curious about this.....is that they have all these empty houses sitting there....because of the housing market crash. Banks are begging to sell at below normal prices (even forty percent). The job market is pretty well screwed and not going anywhere because of all the current taxes.
So I sat there.....pondering....what idiot would want to build a new house in California? Frankly.....I can't think of anyone.
Air Travel
I had a chance to see all the magnificent chances to security aboard aircraft....and frankly....I didn't see anything different from 2007.
Oh, the Frankfurt guys finally got smart and eliminated the first security point after the passport check.....just in front of the tax-free zone. This was a total waste of sorts and I think they finally realized it. They had an entire second security point down at each group of gates, which has now become the one and only point. I think they finally came to realize that the 1,000 employees of this tax-free zone sales area.....all are security risks in some sense. It was never brilliant to keep up two points from a financial standpoint
As for the plane....yes, the last 30 to 40 minutes....we were asked to sit....but it wasn't unreasonable.
I look over the President's comments...."failure....failure...failure".....and I've come to be amused by the analysis.
Basically, there was one thing that they could have done....once this kid's dad called them up....and simply put the kid on a "watch-list" and interviewed him in Amsterdam. Would they have inspected his underwear? I doubt it. There is no checklist to inspect folk's underwear.....unless they do an absolute full-body search in a private room. In an average year.....I bet they do less than thirty a month at most airports.....and it's mostly to search for drugs.
As for fixing or improving the mess? Well.....if you buy a ticket in cash or travel without bags.....I think you ought to be interviewed and looked at prior to boarding.....with a frisk mandated.
Eventually, we will all tire of air travel restrictions and start to go by boat.
Oh, the Frankfurt guys finally got smart and eliminated the first security point after the passport check.....just in front of the tax-free zone. This was a total waste of sorts and I think they finally realized it. They had an entire second security point down at each group of gates, which has now become the one and only point. I think they finally came to realize that the 1,000 employees of this tax-free zone sales area.....all are security risks in some sense. It was never brilliant to keep up two points from a financial standpoint
As for the plane....yes, the last 30 to 40 minutes....we were asked to sit....but it wasn't unreasonable.
I look over the President's comments...."failure....failure...failure".....and I've come to be amused by the analysis.
Basically, there was one thing that they could have done....once this kid's dad called them up....and simply put the kid on a "watch-list" and interviewed him in Amsterdam. Would they have inspected his underwear? I doubt it. There is no checklist to inspect folk's underwear.....unless they do an absolute full-body search in a private room. In an average year.....I bet they do less than thirty a month at most airports.....and it's mostly to search for drugs.
As for fixing or improving the mess? Well.....if you buy a ticket in cash or travel without bags.....I think you ought to be interviewed and looked at prior to boarding.....with a frisk mandated.
Eventually, we will all tire of air travel restrictions and start to go by boat.
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