$

I've come to the conclusion that I am more fond of money that I had previously thought. A few days ago, we had occasion to withdraw more money than normal from the bank. Shortly thereafter, I noticed how much I liked flipping through it, counting it, and generally having it around. Even then, it wasn't until Mary Ann gave me a "what are you doing?" look that I realized she and I have very different perspectives on cash.

Fortunately for our financial health, I teeter between a desire to hoard the money in nice little piles, and the desire to invest in high-yield items such as video games, PDA/phones, and trips to 3rd world countries. If Mary Ann were to go on a spending binge, my guess would be that there would be a lot more fabric and art in the house.

Hopefully, the balance between wanting to keep the money around will continue fending off spendiness.

Dreams

I'm a fairly ambitious person, and I've been fortunate enough to be able to achieve a reasonable amount of my goals thus far. The thing is I've noticed that very few of my dreams have turned out to be as good as I had visualized them to be when I was working towards them. My marriage is one major exception to this, as it has turned out far better than I had originally thought.

So what about you folks? Have your dreams turned out to be disillusioning once achieved?

Reading

I've decided that it's about time I buckled down and read the Koran. Some first-hand knowledge would probably be a good thing.

Well, look at that

For the first time, I’ve come across someone else who happens to have the same strange little genetic two-part eyebrow quirk that I do. I have no idea who this person is:



But here is the eyebrow in question.

His:




Mine:





Unfortunately, despite this similarity, I doubt we're similar enough genetically for any useful purpose, such as a murder alibi.

Proximity alert

Today my news aggregator presented me with this little gem:



Group-think has failed.

Random pictures

Fishing along the corniche in Beirut is a popular pastime. I'm not really sure why they do it though, most of the fish are really small...



This scene is the Dora highway in the area of Harissa at night.



I really don't know what this sign is trying to communicate. It's clearly a typical funeral wrapping, but maybe an Arabic speaker can translate exactly what they are trying to get across...

That's a pleasent surprise

Surprise hit humanitarian video game reaches one million players

UN reform

I rather like this website on UN reform.

http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/

Change of plans

I had been planning to take the kids out to the park this afternoon, until I saw this:

Lebanese torch Danish consulate over cartoons

I am not very happy with the idea that I need to check the news before leaving the house.

Following the crowd

Normally, I don't care to engage in these online poll thingies, but it seems that several of my family members are taking it, so I will too.

On the plus side, I seem to be decently righteous, but on the negative side, I seem rather boring. Watch out though, I'm moderately violent.

I wonder if that would make a good bumper sticker?

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Extreme
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Low
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Did I just get old?

I just realized that I've had cable TV at our new apartment for over a month now, and I have utterly no idea which channel MTV is on. I do however have all the German channels, discovery and BBC/CNN memorized.

Hmmmm

The importance of reading the whole article

While I'm glad that the US, Iran, Cuban, Sudan and Zimbabwe can all find something to agree on, this isn't the first area I would pick.

Human rights organizations and the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus protested on Thursday a decision by the Bush administration to back a measure introduced by Iran denying two gay rights groups a voice at the United Nations.

In a vote Monday, the United States supported Iran's recommendation to deny consultative status at the United Nations' Economic and Social Council to the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians and the International Lesbian and Gay Association, based in Belgium.

Nearly 3,000 nongovernmental organizations have such status, which enables them to distribute documents to meetings of the council.

Among countries with which the United States sided were Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe, nations the State Department has cited in annual reports for their harsh treatment of homosexuals.

Sounds pretty unfair and weasely doesn't it? A bit further down the article, we find this little gem:

Mark P. Lagon, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said in an interview that the vote did not stem from "being against gay rights groups" but was based on "the controversial history of the International Lesbian and Gay Association — an affiliate of the North American Man/Boy Love Association, was associated with it in the past and openly condoned pedophilia."

While I have no idea if this reason/excuse is in fact valid, it does cast things in a different light doesn't it?

Sigh

Gulf retailers were pulling Danish products from their shelves and ambassadors were being summoned for a dressing down over the publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad. Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Denmark last week to protest the Danish government's laissez-faire stance on the offending drawings, and Kuwait said it was summoning Denmark's ambassador.

Sheikh Ali al-Huzaifi, the imam of the holy mosque in Medina, urged Muslim governments to recall their ambassadors and freeze trade with Denmark and Norway "who permit such nonsense, calling it democracy."

"Ridiculing the Prophet is an appaling crime which should not pass without response, because that would allow others in the future to commit the same indecent act," he told Friday worshippers.

"They call [that] freedom of expression and democracy. They are liars and hypocrites," he added.

What?

Irony of the day:

The last name of Lebanon's "Sports and Youth Minister" is Fatfat.

I find that amusingly ironic.

Weird Sign

Warning: Fathers dragging their daughters to school on this road

Certifiable

I am now a certified speaker of German. Well, more like a certified mauler of German, since I only took the Zertifikat Deutsche, which isn’t a very high level. Still though, now I have an extra certification to list on my resume. Yipee!

Death to those who annoy me

At about 1:50 this morning, a mosquito (better know to faithful readers as sky leeches) attacked me. It got in two good bites behind my ear before I woke up, which turned out to be a strategic mistake, because I was then in as much of a mood for blood as the sky leech. The little parasite took it, and I wanted it back with interest. Still though, I didn’t want to bother Mary Ann, so I used the LED flashlight built in to her cell phone to try and track the thing down.

I wonder what goes through a woman’s mind when she wakes up at two in the morning to find her husband using her cell phone to inspect the walls. Mary Ann is very patient.

Anyway, she told me to just be done with it and turn on the light. After a few moments of searching, I found the little beast and started my attack run. The closest weapon at hand happened to be Mary Ann’s pillow. Please see paragraph #2.

I’m proud to say that I brought death to my adversary in one blow. On a biophysical note, I found it interesting that I didn’t actually swat the little pestilence with the pillow, but somehow managed to kill it anyway. There wasn’t a smear on the wall, or a body squished on the pillow, but I later found the entire mosquito rendered lifeless on the bed, fully intact. Dead from my lethal thought beams no doubt.

Lebanese taxi drivers, you have been warned.

I wish it was a joke

Sadly, it isn’t. Click here for the original.

*****

Hundreds of university graduates have held weekly protests for the past 15 years on the streets of the Moroccan capital, demanding safe government jobs because they fear the demands of private business. Mostly holders of degrees in the humanities and social sciences, some of the demonstrators say they would rather die than work for a private firm.

So they demand to be put on the public payroll even though the government has little use for them.

"In the private sector there is no security. You could work for years and one day or the next they will show you the door," said Driss al-Hassnaoui, a member of a 7,000-strong organization of unemployed graduates.

Hassnaoui believes the government is obligated to give him a job.

"We are ready to be integrated in any public position," he said, as protestors waved a banner reading "work or death."

Last month a young woman ate rat poison during one of the demonstrations but did not die. In another incident several other demonstrators suffered severe burns when their Molotov cocktails accidentally exploded on them.

Morocco's official unemployment rate is 10.9 percent. Some 13 percent of the workforce is employed in the public sector, or about 700,000 people. This year some 12,000 people are expected to get government jobs.

"Recruitment in Morocco is not equitable," said Mohammad al-Boukili of the Moroccan Human Rights Association.

"Those who are part of a certain social class or family are favored although the unemployed graduates, who often come from poor backgrounds, are the most in need of work," he said.

But the protesters have little sympathy from the government, which says it simply does not need more public servants with humanities degrees.

Driss Guerraoui, an adviser to the premier, said the graduates could not afford to turn their backs on the private sector.

"They demand jobs in the public sector but they don't have the qualifications for those positions where we need workers," explained the adviser, who is supposed to be dealing with the problem.

"We're looking for economists, telecommunications engineers, people with expertise in languages. We've suggested in vain that they get retrained.

"These unemployed graduates have made a profession of demonstrating," he said, adding that they needed to change their mentality "especially toward the private sector."

Hassnaoui said he was prepared to keep protesting for many more years. "We will continue our sit-in, even if it gets us nowhere for years to come," he said

Discovery

This weekend, the family went down to the local park. The highlight of the trip was Stella discovering the mother of all puddles. Loads of fun, but it was a trifle cold.

Testing

Just got out of my certification test for German. I’ll find out my score on Tuesday at 5pm. If I did well enough, they’ll allow me to move on to the verbal portion of the test. I suppose that will be scored within a week. I’m not really sure what score I’m going to end up with, but I’m glad I tried it out.

While I was there, I signed up for a Library card. Unfortunately, most of their AV materials are video tapes, but it’s something at least. Benjamin Blümchen, here we come!

houseshopping

I've blogged about shopping for French castles in the past, but this one has really made an impression on me. It's just outside Batroun, in the north-ish region of Lebanon. Of course, it would need a lot of work to be habitable, but it's just so picturesque. How can you not like this place?

Rumors of death

I have not yet died as a result of my recent sickness, but my will to blog certainly has. However, in consideration of those of you who are gracious enough to check this site on a regular basis, I have decided make a post. For all those of you who are dying to buy me something, or for those of you who know what my birthday is, I post the following birthday wish, because irony isn't dead either.

Gift idea (SFW)

Last 24

A few of the events from the last day of my life:

Registered for a German language certification test.
Found out about German school for Stella.
Registered for Chinese classes.
Got my first employee evaluation since joining the UN (I'm decently happy with it).
Ate a nasty tasting but decent looking hamburger (I was very hungry).
Regretted eating the hamburger, as I now feel rather sick.

Redefinition

Some people tell me that as you get older, perception of certain flavors change. Things you didn’t like before suddenly become palatable. I think the same think can happen with words. For example a few days ago, I realized that two words have dramatically changed their meaning for me. Sometime in the last year, I have been unable to hear the words “bear down” without thinking of contractions.

For some reason, this phrase has been popping up rather frequently. For example:

Jayhawks bear down, Vinson sparks Kansas' victory

Brink of danger, Teams monitoring levees as storms bear down

'Bear Down' composer Lee dies

Music giants bear down on lyric search apps

Kind of changes the meaning doesn’t it?

Around town

I like this photograph for a number of reasons, the old architecture, the symmetry, and for the fact that this little old lady has really made a difference by caring for her apartment.



The effect is even more clear when I zoom in.



On a completely different note, this sign was at the entrance to a park we visited yesterday. Caption: "No fun allowed"

Just wait till you see the commercial!

Fast Food

I'd like a whole goat to go please.



At least I think it's a goat. It might be a smallish cow.

Some scenes

For some reason or another, my blogging efforts have been thwarted very effectively by various things going on in my life these days. Lest you all wander off to some frequently-updated, high-quality, amusing blog, I'll toss out some pictures in the hopes of dragging you a long a bit more.

I wonder what time it is?



These streets are a bit tough for birds...

A few images

We decided to take a jaunt down to Sidon yesterday, and here are the pictures to prove it.

While getting bonus points for creativity, this is the least jolly Christmas tree I have ever seen. The way all the lights droop and bunch up in the center makes it look sickly to me. Maybe if they were woven into the rings...



In addition, there is that lesser-known Lebanese monument, the leaning minaret of Sidon...



Although not as interesting as the architectural wonders, the interest from the audience on my last post about certain Lebanese menu items led me to post these pictures of the meat department in the local souk. Yum.

The Cow economy

OK, so this originally came to my attention as an email forward, which I generally find pestilential, but this time it was quite funny:

SOCIALISM: You have 2 cows and you give one to your neighbor.

COMMUNISM: You have 2 cows; the Government takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM: You have 2 cows; the Government takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM: You have 2 cows. The Government takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM: You have 2 cows; the Government takes both, shoots one, milks the other and throws the milk away...

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyze why the cow dropped dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called Cowkimon and market them World-Wide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you. You charge others for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the numbers.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. Both are mad.

AN EGYPTIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. Both are voting for Mubarak.