Friday, April 20, 2007
Rain
S didn't realize it was raining this morning, until she saw the blog post (which appears automatically in her email), and then looked out of the window.
The Information
Not the book, but a new piece of lingo I learned. I overheard a conversation, where someone said "I got the 411 on him". Intrigued, I investigated further. Well, I asked what that meant.
It turns out that 411 is the equivalent of what used to be 192, which they don't call directory enquiries, they call 'information'.
Even if we did refer to what you used to get by calling 192 as 'information', that wouldn't work any more. You'd have to say "I got the 818.. errmmm.. 818, not 181, no, that one's too expensive, 818500."
It turns out that 411 is the equivalent of what used to be 192, which they don't call directory enquiries, they call 'information'.
Even if we did refer to what you used to get by calling 192 as 'information', that wouldn't work any more. You'd have to say "I got the 818.. errmmm.. 818, not 181, no, that one's too expensive, 818500."
Scoring (Conversational) Points
It rained here this morning, for the first time since we've been here. (Well, the first time that it wasn't night.) Proper rain, which meant I had to turn on the windscreen wipers in the car, and leave them on. (I've done a couple of swipes before, when I was up in some hills.) It wasn't ultra hard rain - I might have called it very heavy drizzle, but it was enough to make me very, very wet on the way here. (I'd been thinking about taking the mudguards off my bike, as they were never useful - I'm glad I didn't, but I still had to squeeze out my socks when I arrived at work.)
Rain here seems a bit like snow in England. When it snows, everything grinds to a halt, and the Daily Mail can moan about how dreadfully inefficient things are and look at Sweden where it snows all the time, and they do fine. And the people in charge of infrastructure say "Yes, we could spend massive amounts of money on infrastructure to ensure that on the one day every two years when it snows enough to slow down a few trains we could keep them running, but it's cheaper to let the country grind to a halt for a day or two." And, I'd add that having a random selection of trains canceled makes life a little more exciting, sometimes. (Or at least makes something to blog about - if you've got one.) Things are like that here, except for rain. I mean, why build things like drains that can cope with rain, when 99.5% of the time, they are going to sit there and do nothing (except look like someone wasted a lot of money on them). Better to let a few sections of road and bike path turn into small rivers, so that people on their bikes can get wet feet.
To return to the actual subject of this post, there are usually quite a lot of other cyclists around when I ride to work. Lots of people on posh, shiny racing bikes, wearing all the skin tight stuff. Some people pottering about on beach cruisers, a couple of people on recumbents (I think it's always the same two people), and some people on hired bikes and recumbents (the hire-able recumbents look really cool, but are actually very slow, with a single speed, and heavy). At the traffic lights, you pull up to the other cyclists, and can chat. You can only chat very briefly, because you're out of breath, and the lights are about to go green - so you get a sentence, or two if you're lucky, each.
The first person to speak gets to say something witty. And then the other person has no time to think of a suitably witty response. For example, if there's a strong headwind, the first cyclist might say "It will better going home this afternoon, won't it?" and then the second cyclist can just say "yes". There's no time to think of a better response. The conversation ends there. In this situation, the first cyclist wins a conversational point. If the first cyclist says "Windy today", the second cyclist can say"yes, but it will be better going home", in which case the second cyclist gets a point. (Maybe in the first case the second cyclist can say "As long as it doesn't change direction", and then both can have a point.)
If it's a nice day, then the first cyclist might say "nice day for a ride", the second cyclist can just say "yes", and no one gets a point.
So today, as it was raining, I was immediately going to say "Weather like this shows you who the true cyclists are, eh?" The second cyclist would have no time to think of any kind of witty retort, would be forced to say "Yes", and I would get a point. But, it was raining. And there were no other cyclists, either at the traffic lights, or anywhere else. So I never scored a conversational point - but I'll save it for next time.
Rain here seems a bit like snow in England. When it snows, everything grinds to a halt, and the Daily Mail can moan about how dreadfully inefficient things are and look at Sweden where it snows all the time, and they do fine. And the people in charge of infrastructure say "Yes, we could spend massive amounts of money on infrastructure to ensure that on the one day every two years when it snows enough to slow down a few trains we could keep them running, but it's cheaper to let the country grind to a halt for a day or two." And, I'd add that having a random selection of trains canceled makes life a little more exciting, sometimes. (Or at least makes something to blog about - if you've got one.) Things are like that here, except for rain. I mean, why build things like drains that can cope with rain, when 99.5% of the time, they are going to sit there and do nothing (except look like someone wasted a lot of money on them). Better to let a few sections of road and bike path turn into small rivers, so that people on their bikes can get wet feet.
To return to the actual subject of this post, there are usually quite a lot of other cyclists around when I ride to work. Lots of people on posh, shiny racing bikes, wearing all the skin tight stuff. Some people pottering about on beach cruisers, a couple of people on recumbents (I think it's always the same two people), and some people on hired bikes and recumbents (the hire-able recumbents look really cool, but are actually very slow, with a single speed, and heavy). At the traffic lights, you pull up to the other cyclists, and can chat. You can only chat very briefly, because you're out of breath, and the lights are about to go green - so you get a sentence, or two if you're lucky, each.
The first person to speak gets to say something witty. And then the other person has no time to think of a suitably witty response. For example, if there's a strong headwind, the first cyclist might say "It will better going home this afternoon, won't it?" and then the second cyclist can just say "yes". There's no time to think of a better response. The conversation ends there. In this situation, the first cyclist wins a conversational point. If the first cyclist says "Windy today", the second cyclist can say"yes, but it will be better going home", in which case the second cyclist gets a point. (Maybe in the first case the second cyclist can say "As long as it doesn't change direction", and then both can have a point.)
If it's a nice day, then the first cyclist might say "nice day for a ride", the second cyclist can just say "yes", and no one gets a point.
So today, as it was raining, I was immediately going to say "Weather like this shows you who the true cyclists are, eh?" The second cyclist would have no time to think of any kind of witty retort, would be forced to say "Yes", and I would get a point. But, it was raining. And there were no other cyclists, either at the traffic lights, or anywhere else. So I never scored a conversational point - but I'll save it for next time.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Not a Quiz
I was going to set a quiz, and ask what this was:
But then I decided that was too hard. To explain what it is needs a bit of background. A few weeks ago, the boys discovered how to make ice cubes. This was exciting for a while, they would freeze some ice cubes. Then they would leave them on the floor, sofa, TV, and that would be exciting. As is often the way, as time progressed, they moved on. First, they froze other vessels full of water bowls, cups, lego bricks, anything else they could think of. Then (and I don't understand this) they started to rip up paper and put that in the ice.
Next, they started to put other things in the ice - this was to help them to hold the ice, when it was frozen. They started with cocktail sticks, and when they ran out, they moved on from there.
So this is a block of ice, frozen in a cup, with some paper at the bottom, and a pair of scissors in it.
But then I decided that was too hard. To explain what it is needs a bit of background. A few weeks ago, the boys discovered how to make ice cubes. This was exciting for a while, they would freeze some ice cubes. Then they would leave them on the floor, sofa, TV, and that would be exciting. As is often the way, as time progressed, they moved on. First, they froze other vessels full of water bowls, cups, lego bricks, anything else they could think of. Then (and I don't understand this) they started to rip up paper and put that in the ice.
Next, they started to put other things in the ice - this was to help them to hold the ice, when it was frozen. They started with cocktail sticks, and when they ran out, they moved on from there.
So this is a block of ice, frozen in a cup, with some paper at the bottom, and a pair of scissors in it.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Easter food
Today I asked Daniel if he wanted some porridge, with strawberries in, for breakfast. He said "It's Easter. You are only supposed to eat chocolate. Yum yum yum."
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Easter Egg Hunt
We went on an Easter egg hunt at a park near our house today, which had been arranged by a consortium of local churches. We were slightly concerned that they might have some sort of message about the 'true nature of Easter', but there was very little of that. I thought it might be some sort of church fete equivalent. But in England (and probably Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) church fetes are to raise money, and this seemed designed to get rid of it.
However, it was rather strange, for a number of reasons. The first reason was that everything was free. There was hair colouring, face painting, donkey riding, goat stroking (and rabbits and a sheep and some chickens), ice cream, cans of fizzy pop, hot dogs, fairground games (like ring tossing - with prizes, you got a crap prize if you didn't win, and a slightly less crap prize if you did), coffee, doughnuts, fire engines to climb on, a puppet show (more on that in a minute) and probably some other stuff I've forgotten. Oh, and an Easter Egg hunt.
Maybe I'm getting less radical in my old age, but it did rather successfully demonstrate the usefulness of a market economy. Because everything was free, it meant that everyone took it, whether they wanted / liked it or not. And because it was free, there was no incentive to give people what they actually might have wanted, they were taking it anyway, so a lot of it was a bit crap. Plus, there were really long queues for everything, and if they'd charged, the poor people would have got out of our way, and we could have had a go.
The main purpose was the Easter egg hunt. This was divided into age groups, so we
had to wait our turn. The Easter eggs were plastic eggs which either had some sort of sweet or a small toy inside them (or sometimes both). There were, they said, just over 8,000 eggs per age group, and there were four age groups, making 34,000 Easter eggs. In the picture on the left, they are spreading out the eggs, ready for the hunt. Obviously it wasn't much of a challenge to find the eggs, but it's hard to hide one egg, when it's coloured and all you have is grass to hid them in, never mind 8,000. Children were given a bag, and sent out to collect the eggs in a special bag - you were only allowed to fill one bag. Luckily, there were plenty of eggs, 'cos A and D didn't really get the whole idea of hurrying. They'd pick up an egg, try to decide if they liked the colour, shake it to see if it sounded interesting, reject it an
d select another. Meanwhile, other children were rushing forward and hoovering up eggs. There were stewards around to make sure you didn't offer assistance to your children, and that you didn't put eggs in your own bag or pockets.
There was also a raffle - which was free. And it had LOTs of prizes, none of which involved tinned food. They started with bikes - there were 36 (count them) bikes. About 10 fluffy rabbits (which disappointed people who won), two Playstations, two $50 shopping vouchers, and two prizes of $500 in cash. It was an anonymous donor who gave the money for that - but why? Why would you decide that a random person who turned up for a free ticket is the person who is most deserving of your $500. I left before we got to that part of the raffle. Partly because that meant I avoided the quandary of what I would do if I won. But mostly because I was with D, he was very tired, and they were doing an awful lot of stuff about how church is great. (Not God is Great - church is great). They were handing out prayer cards, which you could fill in your, or someone else's details on, and they would then pray for you (or the other person).
The most religious part was the puppet show. The puppets sang songs about God. The video shows (bits of) them playing "We won't be fooled again" by The Who (that's the CSI: Miami theme song), except they sang "You must be born again". (There's also a bit of A and D eating their sweets - I couldn't be bothered to edit into two videos, sorry.)
Want to see some more photos? Oh, OK then.
Here are some Easter eggs.
Here's a photo of me, that was taken by either D or A.
This was the main stage, there were bands and stuff playing. This was a Christian rock band. Which reminds me of a story in The Onion - Bassist Unaware Rock Band Christian
I try to explain to people that we live near the airport, and they say things like (I'm talking about you, JD), "My parents used to live really near Gatwick (or was it Heathrow? I forget), like a 20 minute drive away". The photo below was taken from the park where the Easter egg hunt was held - it's about the same distance from the airport (runway) as our house. That's a plane (it's heading East, so it's taxiing).
That's a plane heading West, and taking off. It's harder to get the photo, because they're moving faster when they're taking off (obviously).
However, it was rather strange, for a number of reasons. The first reason was that everything was free. There was hair colouring, face painting, donkey riding, goat stroking (and rabbits and a sheep and some chickens), ice cream, cans of fizzy pop, hot dogs, fairground games (like ring tossing - with prizes, you got a crap prize if you didn't win, and a slightly less crap prize if you did), coffee, doughnuts, fire engines to climb on, a puppet show (more on that in a minute) and probably some other stuff I've forgotten. Oh, and an Easter Egg hunt.
Maybe I'm getting less radical in my old age, but it did rather successfully demonstrate the usefulness of a market economy. Because everything was free, it meant that everyone took it, whether they wanted / liked it or not. And because it was free, there was no incentive to give people what they actually might have wanted, they were taking it anyway, so a lot of it was a bit crap. Plus, there were really long queues for everything, and if they'd charged, the poor people would have got out of our way, and we could have had a go.
The main purpose was the Easter egg hunt. This was divided into age groups, so we
had to wait our turn. The Easter eggs were plastic eggs which either had some sort of sweet or a small toy inside them (or sometimes both). There were, they said, just over 8,000 eggs per age group, and there were four age groups, making 34,000 Easter eggs. In the picture on the left, they are spreading out the eggs, ready for the hunt. Obviously it wasn't much of a challenge to find the eggs, but it's hard to hide one egg, when it's coloured and all you have is grass to hid them in, never mind 8,000. Children were given a bag, and sent out to collect the eggs in a special bag - you were only allowed to fill one bag. Luckily, there were plenty of eggs, 'cos A and D didn't really get the whole idea of hurrying. They'd pick up an egg, try to decide if they liked the colour, shake it to see if it sounded interesting, reject it an
d select another. Meanwhile, other children were rushing forward and hoovering up eggs. There were stewards around to make sure you didn't offer assistance to your children, and that you didn't put eggs in your own bag or pockets.There was also a raffle - which was free. And it had LOTs of prizes, none of which involved tinned food. They started with bikes - there were 36 (count them) bikes. About 10 fluffy rabbits (which disappointed people who won), two Playstations, two $50 shopping vouchers, and two prizes of $500 in cash. It was an anonymous donor who gave the money for that - but why? Why would you decide that a random person who turned up for a free ticket is the person who is most deserving of your $500. I left before we got to that part of the raffle. Partly because that meant I avoided the quandary of what I would do if I won. But mostly because I was with D, he was very tired, and they were doing an awful lot of stuff about how church is great. (Not God is Great - church is great). They were handing out prayer cards, which you could fill in your, or someone else's details on, and they would then pray for you (or the other person).
The most religious part was the puppet show. The puppets sang songs about God. The video shows (bits of) them playing "We won't be fooled again" by The Who (that's the CSI: Miami theme song), except they sang "You must be born again". (There's also a bit of A and D eating their sweets - I couldn't be bothered to edit into two videos, sorry.)
Want to see some more photos? Oh, OK then.
Here are some Easter eggs.
Here's a photo of me, that was taken by either D or A.
This was the main stage, there were bands and stuff playing. This was a Christian rock band. Which reminds me of a story in The Onion - Bassist Unaware Rock Band Christian
I try to explain to people that we live near the airport, and they say things like (I'm talking about you, JD), "My parents used to live really near Gatwick (or was it Heathrow? I forget), like a 20 minute drive away". The photo below was taken from the park where the Easter egg hunt was held - it's about the same distance from the airport (runway) as our house. That's a plane (it's heading East, so it's taxiing).
That's a plane heading West, and taking off. It's harder to get the photo, because they're moving faster when they're taking off (obviously).
Friday, April 06, 2007
Bowling
I went bowling yesterday, at lunchtime. There's a CoCE bowling club, which I joined as a substitute. (If you're a real player, you have to be in a team, and you have to turn up every week, and if you don't turn up, you have to find someone to substitute for you - and you have to pay for them. So I don't even have to pay.)
I bowled with Alan. In my first game, I scored 124, and he scored 132, so I didn't feel too embarrassed. But I think I should have practiced less at the start, 'cos I flagged in the second game, and only score 58 (against his 119). Maybe no one will ask me again.
The scoring for the league is horrendously complicated - I found a document on the web, which is answers to common questions about how bowling leagues work (for when you've read the rules, and still don't understand.) It's 23 pages long, and it's here.
Question 160, for example, is:
If management has banned a league member from the center, do they qualify for
prize money through the league? Are they required to give two-weeks notice to the
league?
The answer, in case you're interested, is: When a league member has been banned from the center, it is considered a forced action. The member removed qualifies for a portion of the team prize money prorated on the number of weeks the individual contributed to the prize fund.
But how often can that happen? "You, you're barred!", they shout from that little booth that they sit in and give you your shoes from.
Anyway, today I'm very stiff, partly from bowling, which was surprisingly hard work, and I suspect partly from falling off my bike.
I bowled with Alan. In my first game, I scored 124, and he scored 132, so I didn't feel too embarrassed. But I think I should have practiced less at the start, 'cos I flagged in the second game, and only score 58 (against his 119). Maybe no one will ask me again.
The scoring for the league is horrendously complicated - I found a document on the web, which is answers to common questions about how bowling leagues work (for when you've read the rules, and still don't understand.) It's 23 pages long, and it's here.
Question 160, for example, is:
If management has banned a league member from the center, do they qualify for
prize money through the league? Are they required to give two-weeks notice to the
league?
The answer, in case you're interested, is: When a league member has been banned from the center, it is considered a forced action. The member removed qualifies for a portion of the team prize money prorated on the number of weeks the individual contributed to the prize fund.
But how often can that happen? "You, you're barred!", they shout from that little booth that they sit in and give you your shoes from.
Anyway, today I'm very stiff, partly from bowling, which was surprisingly hard work, and I suspect partly from falling off my bike.
Again!
I've been riding my bike to college, university and/or work since I was about 16 (with occasional gaps when I lived too far away - e.g. 1990 to 1992, I never rode to work). And in that time, I can count the number of times I've come a cropper on one hand, with fingers spare. In (about) 1988, my front wheel slipped when I braked on a slope, and I slipped off, with no injuries. In about 1993 there were some roadworks on the way to work, and that made me fall off - I cut my thumb.
Until this week. First on Monday I took a tumble, and then today I was riding along, and I needed to go to the bathroom (as I now say). I rode off the cycle path, and across a paved area, towards the restrooms (as I now sometimes say). In this paved area there used to be some trees, but now there all big holes in the ground, full of sand. If you're looking at the big holes full of sand, it's obvious that they're not ground. But if you're looking at the toilets, to see which one is for chaps, and only looking at the ground out of the corner of your eye, it's not obvious. And then, when you hit the sand, sink gently into it, stop quite suddenly, and fall off sideways, it gives you quite a fright. At least in my experience.
Oh, and a grazed knee.
You can see the trees on this map. They're not there anymore. Obviously.
Until this week. First on Monday I took a tumble, and then today I was riding along, and I needed to go to the bathroom (as I now say). I rode off the cycle path, and across a paved area, towards the restrooms (as I now sometimes say). In this paved area there used to be some trees, but now there all big holes in the ground, full of sand. If you're looking at the big holes full of sand, it's obvious that they're not ground. But if you're looking at the toilets, to see which one is for chaps, and only looking at the ground out of the corner of your eye, it's not obvious. And then, when you hit the sand, sink gently into it, stop quite suddenly, and fall off sideways, it gives you quite a fright. At least in my experience.
Oh, and a grazed knee.
You can see the trees on this map. They're not there anymore. Obviously.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Monday, April 02, 2007
Falling
I fell off my bike today. But in a very undramatic, perhaps even dull, style. I was riding up a wiggly path that goes up from the beach, and my shoelace got caught in my pedal. This happens occasionally - it's an occupational hazard - and usually one drifts to a halt, stops, and disentangles. However, two things were against me - first, I was going very, very slowly. Second, I was turning (and hence leaning) right, and it was my right shoelace that got caught.
So I fell to the ground (catching hold of a railing on the way, so I didn't fall too hard). There's a picture on the right of where it happened - that railing was the one I caught.
. It must have appeared to onlookers that I just stopped pedalling, and fell over. Someone just ahead of me on the path (he was pushing a table, which is why I was going slowly [a very small table, with wheels]) expressed slight concern, and asked what happened.
"My shoelace got caught" I said, from my prone position.
"Huh?" he said.
"My laces - in my pedal." He looked sort of blank.
"It got tangled."
"Oh" he said, looking enlightened. "Your shoestring. There's no cameras watching, so it's OK".
And so as a result of my mishap, I had a slightly sore bottom and a new piece of American vocabulary.
(Shoestring makes me think of this. But maybe it's my age.)
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Finally ...
Finally found a picture taken from near our house. This is taken from about half a mile west of where we live.
Ask your doctor
There's ads for all kinds of medicines on the TV here - they suggest that you "Ask your doctor" about this medicine for people who are having chemotherapy for cancer. (Really, they do advertise medicines for people with cancer.)
The Onion did a story about this a while ago. But I've just come across this video on YouTube:
The Onion did a story about this a while ago. But I've just come across this video on YouTube:
Friday, March 30, 2007
Hollywood is Burning
Here's another one. It's an HDR pic, which makes it kind of interesting, and it appears to be taken from somewhere vaguely near where we live (I think it's further east than us, and I don't recognise the bridge.) Photo by Dave Bullock (eecue).
[Update, 31st March: There are now 512 photos of the fire on Flickr]
[Update, 31st March: There are now 512 photos of the fire on Flickr]
Hollywood hills on fire
There was a fire in the Hollywood hills today. When I got home, and sat around for a bit, I thought that I should have gone to the top of the hill, because I could have taken exciting looking photos. But then I looked on flickr, and there were photos there already.
Still, as they said on the news, fire season has only just started, so there will be more opportunities.
Still, as they said on the news, fire season has only just started, so there will be more opportunities.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
All my CDs - ended
I was reminded today that I never updated the blog on my musical marathon. On November 28th, I decided to listen to all my CDs, in order, whilst I was at work. On Marh 4th, I finished.
I'll admit that I cheated occasionally. Once in a while, a CD would start, and I'd turn the volume down, and go for lunch (OG - Original Gangster, by Ice T was a good example of that one.) I've also been blessed with a large number of free CDs that came from magazine covers. What annoys me about those is that they don't tell you the name of the artist, just the name of the song. And as I didn't pay for them, I decided it was OK to fast forward them.
I'll admit that I cheated occasionally. Once in a while, a CD would start, and I'd turn the volume down, and go for lunch (OG - Original Gangster, by Ice T was a good example of that one.) I've also been blessed with a large number of free CDs that came from magazine covers. What annoys me about those is that they don't tell you the name of the artist, just the name of the song. And as I didn't pay for them, I decided it was OK to fast forward them.
The Cat's Arse
The cat went to the vet, and it seems that she had infected anal glands. Which explains why she rubbed her pooh covered bottom all over the carpet. They gave her a range of blood tests too, and said they would contact us with the results. So they gave us some antibiotic pills, and some cream to rub on her swollen bottom. Well, for S to rub on her swollen bottom, 'cos I'm not have anything to do with it. And for this, we had to hand over the family silver, and our first born son.
A couple of days later, they phoned with the results of the blood tests. It turns out the cat has hepatitis (they didn't put a letter after it). When your cat has hepatitis, I'd have thought it was time to talk about the word that starts with 'youthen' and ends with a continent. But no, it turns out that all she needs is more antibiotics, this time to squirt down her throat.
That cat will outlive me, just to spite me.
A couple of days later, they phoned with the results of the blood tests. It turns out the cat has hepatitis (they didn't put a letter after it). When your cat has hepatitis, I'd have thought it was time to talk about the word that starts with 'youthen' and ends with a continent. But no, it turns out that all she needs is more antibiotics, this time to squirt down her throat.
That cat will outlive me, just to spite me.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Working for the Nursery
As I've said before, the boys go to a pre-school which is a co-operative. It's part of the California Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools. They look after the boys, and we have to participate. But sometimes it feels like it would be easier if we just looked after the boys.
We have to work there, 1.25 days per week, between us. Then there are events that need more people, we need do stuff like paint, and recently they've decided that we need to do fundraising. The nursery needs a loft - which will cost $1500 dollars. (It turns out that what they call a loft is more of a glorified cupboard) so they have to raise money. So we parents have to seek out donations. Now why anyone at all should donate money so that a bunch of SUV driving middle class parents (not us driving SUVs, as you know) can have a slightly nicer pre-school. After all, those women who, with their children, have become homeless as a result of having alcoholic violent partners have got perfectly nice places to put their children.
Part 1
So S has to spend afternoons co-ordinating with others to find out which local businesses have yet to be harassed, travelling there, and then harassing them. So the other day S and the boys set off for a local restaurant. They ate lunch there (because you can't harass a restaurant for a donation with eating there first), and then harassed.
On the way out some Japanese teenaged girls saw A and D, and started to squeak. I don't know why, but A and D particularly have this effect with Japanese teenage girls. The boys sighed, and had their hands held, were cuddled, and generally poked (the boys draw the line at being picked up - and as Japanese girls are usually slight, they don't try much any more) while the other Japanese girls took photos.
They got to the car, which was handily parked behind some bushes, and D then honked up all of his macaroni cheese and orange juice.
And if we're lucky, we'll get a $25 donation. It would be much easier to just given them the money (there must be 40 children at the school).
Part II
There are two 'sessions' at the school. Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and Tuesday/Thursday. When there are special occasions at the school, they happen once for each session, and so our boys have to participate twice. And there are, of course, two of them. So that makes 4 participation events. This week was Persian New Year which unusually didn't seem to involve us doing anything (but you can see how many things there might be).
Soon it's "Spring Celebration", which is Easter by another name. (Although it sounds very pagan calling it Spring Celebration). So the children need to bring eggs, to paint and decorate the place with. (Two children are allergic to eggs, and will not come into school for the week). They need to bring 6 hard boiled eggs, 4 blown eggs, and 6 plastic eggs with 'treasure' (not candy or food, 'cos that's not allowed) in them.
So we need 6 boiled eggs, and 4 blown eggs. Times 2, 'cos we have two boys. Times 2, 'cos we go to 2 sessions. So we need 24 boiled eggs, and 16 blown eggs. Or a total of 40 eggs. (Plus 24 plastic eggs with treasure in.)
We have to work there, 1.25 days per week, between us. Then there are events that need more people, we need do stuff like paint, and recently they've decided that we need to do fundraising. The nursery needs a loft - which will cost $1500 dollars. (It turns out that what they call a loft is more of a glorified cupboard) so they have to raise money. So we parents have to seek out donations. Now why anyone at all should donate money so that a bunch of SUV driving middle class parents (not us driving SUVs, as you know) can have a slightly nicer pre-school. After all, those women who, with their children, have become homeless as a result of having alcoholic violent partners have got perfectly nice places to put their children.
Part 1
So S has to spend afternoons co-ordinating with others to find out which local businesses have yet to be harassed, travelling there, and then harassing them. So the other day S and the boys set off for a local restaurant. They ate lunch there (because you can't harass a restaurant for a donation with eating there first), and then harassed.
On the way out some Japanese teenaged girls saw A and D, and started to squeak. I don't know why, but A and D particularly have this effect with Japanese teenage girls. The boys sighed, and had their hands held, were cuddled, and generally poked (the boys draw the line at being picked up - and as Japanese girls are usually slight, they don't try much any more) while the other Japanese girls took photos.
They got to the car, which was handily parked behind some bushes, and D then honked up all of his macaroni cheese and orange juice.
And if we're lucky, we'll get a $25 donation. It would be much easier to just given them the money (there must be 40 children at the school).
Part II
There are two 'sessions' at the school. Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and Tuesday/Thursday. When there are special occasions at the school, they happen once for each session, and so our boys have to participate twice. And there are, of course, two of them. So that makes 4 participation events. This week was Persian New Year which unusually didn't seem to involve us doing anything (but you can see how many things there might be).
Soon it's "Spring Celebration", which is Easter by another name. (Although it sounds very pagan calling it Spring Celebration). So the children need to bring eggs, to paint and decorate the place with. (Two children are allergic to eggs, and will not come into school for the week). They need to bring 6 hard boiled eggs, 4 blown eggs, and 6 plastic eggs with 'treasure' (not candy or food, 'cos that's not allowed) in them.
So we need 6 boiled eggs, and 4 blown eggs. Times 2, 'cos we have two boys. Times 2, 'cos we go to 2 sessions. So we need 24 boiled eggs, and 16 blown eggs. Or a total of 40 eggs. (Plus 24 plastic eggs with treasure in.)
Avocados
When I was young (and perhaps when you were young too) avocados were eaten in a bowl, with a tomatoey vinaigrette dressing, and a spoon, with which you scooped the flesh out . (I once bought my mother a bowl for mother's day that was designed to eat avocados - it was green, and sort of avocado shaped. Some sort of argument arose between me and my sister about whose idea it was, or who it was from, or something like that, and mum said she never wanted a mother's day present again. Which is pretty much what happened.)
When I got older, one scooped avocados out, chopped them up and put them in a salad, or occasionally mashed them and made guacamole.
Here, you see avocados all over the place. I've never seen anyone eat one out of a bowl, or put one in a salad. You see a lot of guacamole though. (This morning, for example, I had a burrito for breakfast from a stand in the market - it had guacamole in it.) In England, I've only seen avocados in a sandwich once, and that was in a delicatessen, and people thought it was weird. (They also sold chili peanut butter and banana sandwiches, so they did have some weird stuff.) The place you see avocados the most is in sandwiches.
The standard vegetarian sandwich in the cafe at CoCE is avocado and cheese. Subway has avocado in every sandwich as an optional extra (50c). This is Subway, which competes with McDonald's. (McDonald's might do avocado too, but as they're an evil corporation, I wouldn't know. And I only went in a Subway once in England, that I remember, at Milton Keynes train station, and I think I'd have noticed if they do avocado). There's a place near us called "The Shack", which is a slightly seedy bar, which also sells burgers. Optional extra on your burger is, yes, you guessed it, avocado. When we go to Venice beach, there's a burger place we frequent (because it's completely vegan, but you'd never guess by looking), and they do a burger with avocados on. (They also have a pull up bar outside, and the more pull ups you do, the larger the discount on your burger.) S and I went for breakfast the other Saturday, on the third street promenade (so we could see if there were any celebrities about - I saw someone who looked a bit like Oliver Stone, but S didn't know who that was, and a lot of people look a bit like Oliver Stone). One of the options, at a fairly standard diner, was avocado omelette.
When I got older, one scooped avocados out, chopped them up and put them in a salad, or occasionally mashed them and made guacamole.
Here, you see avocados all over the place. I've never seen anyone eat one out of a bowl, or put one in a salad. You see a lot of guacamole though. (This morning, for example, I had a burrito for breakfast from a stand in the market - it had guacamole in it.) In England, I've only seen avocados in a sandwich once, and that was in a delicatessen, and people thought it was weird. (They also sold chili peanut butter and banana sandwiches, so they did have some weird stuff.) The place you see avocados the most is in sandwiches.
The standard vegetarian sandwich in the cafe at CoCE is avocado and cheese. Subway has avocado in every sandwich as an optional extra (50c). This is Subway, which competes with McDonald's. (McDonald's might do avocado too, but as they're an evil corporation, I wouldn't know. And I only went in a Subway once in England, that I remember, at Milton Keynes train station, and I think I'd have noticed if they do avocado). There's a place near us called "The Shack", which is a slightly seedy bar, which also sells burgers. Optional extra on your burger is, yes, you guessed it, avocado. When we go to Venice beach, there's a burger place we frequent (because it's completely vegan, but you'd never guess by looking), and they do a burger with avocados on. (They also have a pull up bar outside, and the more pull ups you do, the larger the discount on your burger.) S and I went for breakfast the other Saturday, on the third street promenade (so we could see if there were any celebrities about - I saw someone who looked a bit like Oliver Stone, but S didn't know who that was, and a lot of people look a bit like Oliver Stone). One of the options, at a fairly standard diner, was avocado omelette.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Bottom problems
The cat had some bottom problems. Specifically, there seemed to be blood coming out of it, which seemed kind of serious. So I rang the vet.
"The cat's bleeding out of her bottom." I told the person who answered the phone. "Bottom of her what?" They replied.
"Bottom".
"Bottom of her foot? Bottom of her head? Bottom of what?"
I was flummoxed. What could I say? Arse? They wouldn't understand. I felt like Borat, and wanted to say "ah-noos".
"The cat's bleeding out of her bottom." I told the person who answered the phone. "Bottom of her what?" They replied.
"Bottom".
"Bottom of her foot? Bottom of her head? Bottom of what?"
I was flummoxed. What could I say? Arse? They wouldn't understand. I felt like Borat, and wanted to say "ah-noos".
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Birthday Fun
It was S's birthday on Monday, so she picked me up at work at 3pm, and we went to a restaurant called Geoffrey's of Malibu. Which has staggeringly attractive sea views, and is expensive. (Well, Americans think it's extraordinarily expensive, but more on that in a moment).
We went to Geoffrey's (which the waiters pronounced Joffrey's - apparently this was the original owner's wish, but he's dead, so no one can check that it wasn't some sort of joke. We arrived at Geoffrey's in our car - and drove into the car park. You can't park your own car - it's valet parking only.
In films, people get out of the car and throw their keys to the parker (or whatever they're called) and park their car. Having done this sort of thing before, I've learned that it's better to just leave the keys in the ignition. It doesn't look as cool, but I think it annoys them less. The car park was full of cars that made ours look small - there was a Ferrari, two Porsches, and a sprinkling of BMWs, Mercedes, and Lexi (that's what Douglas Coupland says the plural of Lexus is). (Or strictly speaking, one of the characters in the book Microserfs).
The food wasn't hideously expensive, if you only had salads and starters, which is what we did. Not really by choice - there was no vegetarian main course, but this was a snack 'cos we weren't going to be eating properly until 10 ish. We had desserts too - I had a passion fruit tower, which cost $8. I realized that I might be turning American when I started to recoil at the price. This is a restaurant that Americans say is staggeringly expensive - for very special occasions only. (It actually came up in discussion today, and 'expensive' was the first adjective that everyone thinks of). Salads were $11, and starters about $8.
The waiters were extraordinarily courteous and polite and nice. Instead of asking what we wanted to order, they asked "What would you like to enjoy?" When it came time to leave, the car was parked about 20 feet away from is (with the keys still in the ignition), but they ran over and drove it to us - then the chap had to leap out , run around the car and open the door for S, before she managed to do it. She was slightly surprised by someone jumping between her and the door, moments before her door reached the handle.
Then we went to the cinema, to see Music and Lyrics. Now, Google can do some clever stuff, like maths (I'm supposed to say "Math" now). But I typed the name of the film into Google (which was 'Music and Lyrics' ... I know, but it was her birthday. What was I supposed to say). And Google gave me the cinemas that it was on at, and the times, near our house. In one sense this was rather useful. In another, how does Google know where we live?
Anyway, we got to the cinema very early, and as it was S's birthday and she was allowed a treat, we went shopping and she bought me a pair of trainers and a shirt. It's part of the deal that I have to throw out an old pair of trainers and a shirt. But maybe she'll forget.
We went to the cinema to watch the film, and bought an enormous vessel of Diet Pepsi to share. S suggested that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have such a large caffeinated drink in the evening, but we were going to share it, and it wasn't that late. And we watched the film. (Which had a fairly stereotyped storyline, but was quite amusing in places).
Our plan was then to go to a Thai restaurant, but we were too weary, so we went home. On the way home we decided we were hungry, so we stopped at Ralph's supermarket to get some snacks. Ralph's is an American supermarket, so it sells all sorts of prepackaged tasty food that's ready to eat, so I bought some sushi (with avocado inside), some spring rolls, and some salad.
Aside: Spring rolls aren't usually what we call spring rolls - they are egg rolls (for some mysterious reason - they don't have egg in them). Spring rolls are raw, and have beansprouts, and sliced vegetables inside a sort of soft rice paper. These had a big lump of tofu, and came with peanut sauce.
Then we had some champagne (it seems that S had been drinking it earlier) and went to bed. I lay awake twitching and listening to my heart race for a while, then I gave up and read a book, until 2:30, and the caffeine in the diet coke had worn off.
We went to Geoffrey's (which the waiters pronounced Joffrey's - apparently this was the original owner's wish, but he's dead, so no one can check that it wasn't some sort of joke. We arrived at Geoffrey's in our car - and drove into the car park. You can't park your own car - it's valet parking only.
In films, people get out of the car and throw their keys to the parker (or whatever they're called) and park their car. Having done this sort of thing before, I've learned that it's better to just leave the keys in the ignition. It doesn't look as cool, but I think it annoys them less. The car park was full of cars that made ours look small - there was a Ferrari, two Porsches, and a sprinkling of BMWs, Mercedes, and Lexi (that's what Douglas Coupland says the plural of Lexus is). (Or strictly speaking, one of the characters in the book Microserfs).
The food wasn't hideously expensive, if you only had salads and starters, which is what we did. Not really by choice - there was no vegetarian main course, but this was a snack 'cos we weren't going to be eating properly until 10 ish. We had desserts too - I had a passion fruit tower, which cost $8. I realized that I might be turning American when I started to recoil at the price. This is a restaurant that Americans say is staggeringly expensive - for very special occasions only. (It actually came up in discussion today, and 'expensive' was the first adjective that everyone thinks of). Salads were $11, and starters about $8.
The waiters were extraordinarily courteous and polite and nice. Instead of asking what we wanted to order, they asked "What would you like to enjoy?" When it came time to leave, the car was parked about 20 feet away from is (with the keys still in the ignition), but they ran over and drove it to us - then the chap had to leap out , run around the car and open the door for S, before she managed to do it. She was slightly surprised by someone jumping between her and the door, moments before her door reached the handle.
Then we went to the cinema, to see Music and Lyrics. Now, Google can do some clever stuff, like maths (I'm supposed to say "Math" now). But I typed the name of the film into Google (which was 'Music and Lyrics' ... I know, but it was her birthday. What was I supposed to say). And Google gave me the cinemas that it was on at, and the times, near our house. In one sense this was rather useful. In another, how does Google know where we live?
Anyway, we got to the cinema very early, and as it was S's birthday and she was allowed a treat, we went shopping and she bought me a pair of trainers and a shirt. It's part of the deal that I have to throw out an old pair of trainers and a shirt. But maybe she'll forget.
We went to the cinema to watch the film, and bought an enormous vessel of Diet Pepsi to share. S suggested that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have such a large caffeinated drink in the evening, but we were going to share it, and it wasn't that late. And we watched the film. (Which had a fairly stereotyped storyline, but was quite amusing in places).
Our plan was then to go to a Thai restaurant, but we were too weary, so we went home. On the way home we decided we were hungry, so we stopped at Ralph's supermarket to get some snacks. Ralph's is an American supermarket, so it sells all sorts of prepackaged tasty food that's ready to eat, so I bought some sushi (with avocado inside), some spring rolls, and some salad.
Aside: Spring rolls aren't usually what we call spring rolls - they are egg rolls (for some mysterious reason - they don't have egg in them). Spring rolls are raw, and have beansprouts, and sliced vegetables inside a sort of soft rice paper. These had a big lump of tofu, and came with peanut sauce.
Then we had some champagne (it seems that S had been drinking it earlier) and went to bed. I lay awake twitching and listening to my heart race for a while, then I gave up and read a book, until 2:30, and the caffeine in the diet coke had worn off.
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