Blogging on a Monday afternoon
Few,
Seems things are rolling again. Posting is going great. I don't know what happened there. Maybe it was all the Rastas in town taking up all the bandwidth. Who knows. I'll I can say is it's good to be back with my fans.
The weather here is getting hot. Really hot. At least for Addis Ababa. It's well past the threshold where turning on the ventilation in the car is at all useful. Now, it's just like ventilation in a sauna. I'm predicting rain, as we've had 4 straight days of this heat and I think that's bound to create some humidity or something. Plus, I saw clouds on the horizon this evening, but they stayed completely out of the city. Fortunately, there's been some welcome wind, so all the pollution is blown out of the city.
The dog and cat are fine. They really like to have a go of it. Simba, the dog, is always trying to start stuff with the cat. You'd think that she'd want nothing to do with it, as he's about three times her size, but on occasion I think she instigates, at least in the cases where she can make a quick getaway. Most of the time, though, I think she'd rather be left alone.
I'd definitely like to be left alone, as I get tired of them knocking the plugs out of the splitter. Our satellite takes time to "reboot" once unplugged, so it can be an annoyance. Also annoying - I find the dog chewing on my earplugs which I'd gotten out for use with my new jigsaw. He had them fully in his mouth, covered in saliva. I'll probably put them back in once they're fully dry. After the first time, it will be no problem - all the germs should be mine at that point. But that first one might make me wince for a nanosecond.
Driving lessons continue. Brother-in-law was a bit discouraged last week, maybe partly due to my teaching style. I've always been a really patient teacher, but think that the fact that I'm teaching an unlicensed driver on roads often lined with pedestrians makes me a bit nervous. He was pretty good today, if having a bit of fun with the accelerator. Going backwards is the most likely to result in damage, I think, but he's got a real aggressive foot for the accelerator, even in reverse. Feeling the need to be a little more calm of a teacher, I've lightened my input, but some points definitely make me want to clutch something. I'm actually dreading the thought of teaching my kids driving - by that time, we should have enough money to afford lessons, so I think we'll go that route.
What else? I bought my first saw today. It's a beauty. A German-made jigsaw. You can definitely trust the Germans in terms of engineering ability. I can't wait to try the thing out and actually have a purpose for it, but I don't have a long enough extension cord for the time being. Unfortunately, given my revealing whiteness, I don't want to go to a shop to pay double the price, so I'll wait until tomorrow when my brother-in-law can go.
Speaking of saws and, by extension, power tools and, one more extension, power tool brands, I think they are pretty funny. The power tool companies in the U.S. are definitely branded - they all have unique color schemes and words that go with their market strategy. For instance, DeWalt tools are always yellow and black and have the slogan, "Built tough" or something like that. They want potential customers to feel tough. Other tools have similar coloring schemes, present in all their tools, and slogans to match their identities.
What I find so amusing about all this is how men often make fun of women for their shopping habits with comments like, "what's the difference, it's just a shirt" or, "who cares, as long as it smells okay (i.e. in the case of perfume)". In the case of tools, however, men are able to distinguish the finest minutia differentiating their brand from another i.e. "this one has got 10.25 inch rip capacity and 1,200 watts of spare horsepower" when all they are really doing is buying one brand over another because they like the color pattern. Oh heck, it's probably a little more sophisticated than that, but not much. Consumptus simplicitus.
Well, enough ranting for me. The Bob Marley reunion has wrapped up, but the memory lives on. My next door neighbor's kids were happily singing songs from the concert this afternoon, albeit in somewhat misplaced English. (Doesn't matter - kids anywhere are cute). They are taking down the stage and scaffolding in Meskal Square and within a few days, all lanes of traffic should be open there, so my largest concerns will be met.
I hope to introduce a new segment to the column soon - man on the street interviews a la Ken Schram of Kiro 7 or Komo 4 or Kujo 6. I'll start with friends and family, but I think it would be really interesting for readers to get a firsthand perspective of people here. Granted, it will be the framework of my interviewing, which will certainly sway all conversations towards the inane, but it should still be really valuable. Until next time, good surfing and tell your friends about the blog.
Seems things are rolling again. Posting is going great. I don't know what happened there. Maybe it was all the Rastas in town taking up all the bandwidth. Who knows. I'll I can say is it's good to be back with my fans.
The weather here is getting hot. Really hot. At least for Addis Ababa. It's well past the threshold where turning on the ventilation in the car is at all useful. Now, it's just like ventilation in a sauna. I'm predicting rain, as we've had 4 straight days of this heat and I think that's bound to create some humidity or something. Plus, I saw clouds on the horizon this evening, but they stayed completely out of the city. Fortunately, there's been some welcome wind, so all the pollution is blown out of the city.
The dog and cat are fine. They really like to have a go of it. Simba, the dog, is always trying to start stuff with the cat. You'd think that she'd want nothing to do with it, as he's about three times her size, but on occasion I think she instigates, at least in the cases where she can make a quick getaway. Most of the time, though, I think she'd rather be left alone.
I'd definitely like to be left alone, as I get tired of them knocking the plugs out of the splitter. Our satellite takes time to "reboot" once unplugged, so it can be an annoyance. Also annoying - I find the dog chewing on my earplugs which I'd gotten out for use with my new jigsaw. He had them fully in his mouth, covered in saliva. I'll probably put them back in once they're fully dry. After the first time, it will be no problem - all the germs should be mine at that point. But that first one might make me wince for a nanosecond.
Driving lessons continue. Brother-in-law was a bit discouraged last week, maybe partly due to my teaching style. I've always been a really patient teacher, but think that the fact that I'm teaching an unlicensed driver on roads often lined with pedestrians makes me a bit nervous. He was pretty good today, if having a bit of fun with the accelerator. Going backwards is the most likely to result in damage, I think, but he's got a real aggressive foot for the accelerator, even in reverse. Feeling the need to be a little more calm of a teacher, I've lightened my input, but some points definitely make me want to clutch something. I'm actually dreading the thought of teaching my kids driving - by that time, we should have enough money to afford lessons, so I think we'll go that route.
What else? I bought my first saw today. It's a beauty. A German-made jigsaw. You can definitely trust the Germans in terms of engineering ability. I can't wait to try the thing out and actually have a purpose for it, but I don't have a long enough extension cord for the time being. Unfortunately, given my revealing whiteness, I don't want to go to a shop to pay double the price, so I'll wait until tomorrow when my brother-in-law can go.
Speaking of saws and, by extension, power tools and, one more extension, power tool brands, I think they are pretty funny. The power tool companies in the U.S. are definitely branded - they all have unique color schemes and words that go with their market strategy. For instance, DeWalt tools are always yellow and black and have the slogan, "Built tough" or something like that. They want potential customers to feel tough. Other tools have similar coloring schemes, present in all their tools, and slogans to match their identities.
What I find so amusing about all this is how men often make fun of women for their shopping habits with comments like, "what's the difference, it's just a shirt" or, "who cares, as long as it smells okay (i.e. in the case of perfume)". In the case of tools, however, men are able to distinguish the finest minutia differentiating their brand from another i.e. "this one has got 10.25 inch rip capacity and 1,200 watts of spare horsepower" when all they are really doing is buying one brand over another because they like the color pattern. Oh heck, it's probably a little more sophisticated than that, but not much. Consumptus simplicitus.
Well, enough ranting for me. The Bob Marley reunion has wrapped up, but the memory lives on. My next door neighbor's kids were happily singing songs from the concert this afternoon, albeit in somewhat misplaced English. (Doesn't matter - kids anywhere are cute). They are taking down the stage and scaffolding in Meskal Square and within a few days, all lanes of traffic should be open there, so my largest concerns will be met.
I hope to introduce a new segment to the column soon - man on the street interviews a la Ken Schram of Kiro 7 or Komo 4 or Kujo 6. I'll start with friends and family, but I think it would be really interesting for readers to get a firsthand perspective of people here. Granted, it will be the framework of my interviewing, which will certainly sway all conversations towards the inane, but it should still be really valuable. Until next time, good surfing and tell your friends about the blog.
posted by AARFZ at 5:57 PM
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