We've all seen this acronym on bumper stickers (well, those of us in the 'States, anyway). This question was posed as a comment by Dad on my massive political debate blog:
"Doug said: "One other thought. I have heard a lot about how to not deal with terrorists, ie war. What would some of you have done? I have not heard much on that. I am also interested in situations like Ruanda (sp??). Here is a case where tons of people are dying. What is our response? We know sanctions only hurt the little guy, and don't like war, so what are some other options?"
To paraphrase, "What Would Justin('s friends and family) Do?" Enquiring minds want to know...
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Polyester and Inferior Genes
With winter quickly approaching, my wardrobe is being reshuffled, with shorts being replaced by jeans, my boxers being replaced by thermals, and my t-shirts being replaced by anything made out of wool or cashmere. Or polyester.
There's a big difference between polyester and wool, in terms of warmth, quality, durability, and, one of the most important factors for me, price. In the past, if something was made of polyester, but it was significantly cheaper than something made out of wool or an equivalent fabric, I didn't think twice about going for the polyester. But now I know the real truth about it. I've learned that the most important trait of polyester is it's incredible ability to generate enormous amounts of static electricity during the winter months in cold places (that would be anywhere BUT California). And this static electricity is released frequently during these winter months, often passing through my body and out through my finger tips whenever i touch something made of metal. And this is extremely annoying. I'm starting to feel like the main character in Office Space (who is shocked every time he touches his office door). Does anyone know how I can make myself shock proof???? Maybe one of my "layers" should be aluminum foil or something like that.
After taking some time off to recover from a horrific injury caused by yogan down-dogs (my thumb hurt), I returned to the gym to start playing some raquetball against Cathy. Being the masculine man that I am, I refused to stop playing until I beat her. Well, we went five games and all I had to show for it was a massive blister on my thumb. And a big 0 in the "Win" column. Clearly there is an inferior gene in my body that relates to my thumb. Not to mention my inferior lower eye-lids.....
P.S. Funny article (among many others) on Craigslist. And there's lots of activity going on on my Friday Night Smackdown blog entry...
There's a big difference between polyester and wool, in terms of warmth, quality, durability, and, one of the most important factors for me, price. In the past, if something was made of polyester, but it was significantly cheaper than something made out of wool or an equivalent fabric, I didn't think twice about going for the polyester. But now I know the real truth about it. I've learned that the most important trait of polyester is it's incredible ability to generate enormous amounts of static electricity during the winter months in cold places (that would be anywhere BUT California). And this static electricity is released frequently during these winter months, often passing through my body and out through my finger tips whenever i touch something made of metal. And this is extremely annoying. I'm starting to feel like the main character in Office Space (who is shocked every time he touches his office door). Does anyone know how I can make myself shock proof???? Maybe one of my "layers" should be aluminum foil or something like that.
After taking some time off to recover from a horrific injury caused by yogan down-dogs (my thumb hurt), I returned to the gym to start playing some raquetball against Cathy. Being the masculine man that I am, I refused to stop playing until I beat her. Well, we went five games and all I had to show for it was a massive blister on my thumb. And a big 0 in the "Win" column. Clearly there is an inferior gene in my body that relates to my thumb. Not to mention my inferior lower eye-lids.....
P.S. Funny article (among many others) on Craigslist. And there's lots of activity going on on my Friday Night Smackdown blog entry...
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Upgrade to Firefox 1.0 NOW!
Do you like getting spyware on your computer? Do you like viruses? Do you like the fact that someone has the ability to look at the files on your computer, or see your financial information? Do you like those annoying pop-ups that always appear when you use Internet Explorer? If not, I highly recommend you upgrade your web browser to Firefox 1.0 NOW. It's a quick, easy installation and you will be able to sleep at night knowing that people won't be able to read that essay you had to write for your college entrance exams....
Monday, November 08, 2004
Czeching out Brooklyn
Things are finally getting back to normal for me in my humble New York abode. On Thursday night, the last of my string of Autumn visitors left to return to Germany, leaving me with an odd-feeling empty apartment. Without having to entertain anyone and finally having ample floor space again, I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself, so I hunkered down on my futon and thumbed through my weekly Time Out New York magazine that I get. It's a great magazine, it tells you what's going on in town and where it's happening, as well as random articles on fashion, style, art, culture, dining, partying, etc. As I was going through the pages and pages of events, I realized that I'd never really focused on the events, mostly because I rarely have time to hunker down and read the mag before the next issue arrives. With nothing on my weekend agenda, I started making a list of things that I could do to keep myself entertained.
One of the gems that I found hidden in the magazine was right up my alley: New Czech Films being presented at the BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) as part of the Czech Independance Day festivities. Many of you know that I have a weird obsession with Eastern Europe, especially with the Czech Republic. Maybe it's the beautiful women, maybe it's the magical architecture, or maybe it's the interesting history, but regardless, I am obsessed with that region of the world. When I relocate to Europe someday in the future, that area is definetely on my shortlist of locations. But I digress....so Saturday night Sean and I headed over to Brooklyn, checked out the hip restaurants on Smith St. (two thumbs up!! I'll be going back there; We ate Thai food at Tuk Tuk) and then walked to the BAM to see this random Czech film with subtitles called "Bored in Brno". After some of the movies, they have a Q&A session with the directors, but unfortunately, our's wasn't one of them. BUT, the movie was excellent. It was totally low-budget, but the actors did a great job and it was a hilarious movie. Let's just say that it's about a couple (both of whom have a few screws loose upstairs) who are going to spend their first night together, and everyone is giving them advice. It was really great....
While I'm on the subject of Eastern European obsession - and Brooklyn -, I spent most of Saturday in Brooklyn at Fort Greene park with some people from New York Cares, my volunteer organization. We performed some reconstructive surgery on an area of the park that, interestingly enough, I had performed some reconstructive surgery on back in May for Spring Cleanup Day. We also planted a ton of bulbs in preparation for the winter, so next spring it should be looking good. I was talking to one of the other volunteers (who, coincidently, I had met about a month back at a completely different event in Manhattan) about how I was going to be going to BAM to see a Czech film that night and I declared that I had a strange obsession with Eastern Europe. It turns out that she's studying Eastern European history at Columbia and just got back from spending a summer in Berlin, because she's learning German as well. Unfortunately, she took off before I had a chance to say goodbye and invite her to that evening's festivities, but I'm sure I'll see her next weekend at my monthly kid's event in Hell's Kitchen...
Also of note, I ate at Angelica's Kitchen in the East Village on Friday night. It's one of those vegan organic restaurants that are all over the place here in the city. It was quite good, though, and had something called a "community table" for people who are eating by themselves or in small groups. I ended up sitting next to an 85 year-old lady who eats at the restaurant almost daily. She was born and raised in New York City and now is an artist after raising her family on the 20th floor of a building overlooking the East River and downtown.
Sunday I shopped for winter clothing. I was somewhat successful at limiting the spending and still picking up some vital items like cashmere-lined gloves, beanies, scarfs, and socks. Gotta love discount shopping at Century 21!
And, finally, the last event of the weekend was signing up for a health-and-fitness cooking class sponsored by Whole Foods Market for next Friday. I have no doubt that this will inspire a yogan outlook on in-home dining in the near future!
J. Riley
One of the gems that I found hidden in the magazine was right up my alley: New Czech Films being presented at the BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) as part of the Czech Independance Day festivities. Many of you know that I have a weird obsession with Eastern Europe, especially with the Czech Republic. Maybe it's the beautiful women, maybe it's the magical architecture, or maybe it's the interesting history, but regardless, I am obsessed with that region of the world. When I relocate to Europe someday in the future, that area is definetely on my shortlist of locations. But I digress....so Saturday night Sean and I headed over to Brooklyn, checked out the hip restaurants on Smith St. (two thumbs up!! I'll be going back there; We ate Thai food at Tuk Tuk) and then walked to the BAM to see this random Czech film with subtitles called "Bored in Brno". After some of the movies, they have a Q&A session with the directors, but unfortunately, our's wasn't one of them. BUT, the movie was excellent. It was totally low-budget, but the actors did a great job and it was a hilarious movie. Let's just say that it's about a couple (both of whom have a few screws loose upstairs) who are going to spend their first night together, and everyone is giving them advice. It was really great....
While I'm on the subject of Eastern European obsession - and Brooklyn -, I spent most of Saturday in Brooklyn at Fort Greene park with some people from New York Cares, my volunteer organization. We performed some reconstructive surgery on an area of the park that, interestingly enough, I had performed some reconstructive surgery on back in May for Spring Cleanup Day. We also planted a ton of bulbs in preparation for the winter, so next spring it should be looking good. I was talking to one of the other volunteers (who, coincidently, I had met about a month back at a completely different event in Manhattan) about how I was going to be going to BAM to see a Czech film that night and I declared that I had a strange obsession with Eastern Europe. It turns out that she's studying Eastern European history at Columbia and just got back from spending a summer in Berlin, because she's learning German as well. Unfortunately, she took off before I had a chance to say goodbye and invite her to that evening's festivities, but I'm sure I'll see her next weekend at my monthly kid's event in Hell's Kitchen...
Also of note, I ate at Angelica's Kitchen in the East Village on Friday night. It's one of those vegan organic restaurants that are all over the place here in the city. It was quite good, though, and had something called a "community table" for people who are eating by themselves or in small groups. I ended up sitting next to an 85 year-old lady who eats at the restaurant almost daily. She was born and raised in New York City and now is an artist after raising her family on the 20th floor of a building overlooking the East River and downtown.
Sunday I shopped for winter clothing. I was somewhat successful at limiting the spending and still picking up some vital items like cashmere-lined gloves, beanies, scarfs, and socks. Gotta love discount shopping at Century 21!
And, finally, the last event of the weekend was signing up for a health-and-fitness cooking class sponsored by Whole Foods Market for next Friday. I have no doubt that this will inspire a yogan outlook on in-home dining in the near future!
J. Riley
Friday, November 05, 2004
Friday Night Smackdown
Enquiring minds want to know: Why was Bush re-elected? I know a lot of my readers voted for Bush (myself excluded), and a lot of my readers either voted for Kerry or would have voted for Kerry if they were citizens. See the link below this post that says "Comments"? Let's hear why you voted for the candidate that you chose (or would have chose if you were a citizen), and hopefully we'll get some discussion going on this subject. No holds barred!! Feel free to hide behind the "anonymous" cover if you don't want to reveal who you are, or put your name in your post if you are courageous enough. I will delete any comments that are personal attacks (unless they are personal attacks on Bush) and I will steer the discussion to my one-sided viewpoint. Just kidding!!
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Raiders of the Lost Blog
I had a great blog qeued up yesterday, but thanks to the worthlessness of Internet Explorer, it has been lost. Fear not - a new version of my preferred browser Firefox is coming out next week, which I will install and use for future blogging.
Most of you know how I feel about the elections, so I shouldn't have to say much. It was pretty disappointing to hear Bush's victory speech, using rhetoric about how he "needs support from those that voted for Kerry...bla bla bla". Obviously he doesn't need our support since he's been re-elected and now has no reason to do anything but push his "radical" (as BBC termed it) conservative agenda. He didn't "need" our support before, so why should he need it now?
I'm done, and I'm stepping off my soap box. Politics are pointless to discuss for the next three years....
Most of you know how I feel about the elections, so I shouldn't have to say much. It was pretty disappointing to hear Bush's victory speech, using rhetoric about how he "needs support from those that voted for Kerry...bla bla bla". Obviously he doesn't need our support since he's been re-elected and now has no reason to do anything but push his "radical" (as BBC termed it) conservative agenda. He didn't "need" our support before, so why should he need it now?
I'm done, and I'm stepping off my soap box. Politics are pointless to discuss for the next three years....
Monday, November 01, 2004
One Day Left Before Voting Time!
Well it looks like we're getting one last stretch of nice weather here in the city before it becomes miserably cold outside. Yesterday the thermometer mercury reached somewhere around 70 degrees, which isn't too bad for the end of October! It made it much more appealing to wander downtown to see the Halloween parade with the millions of other people crowded into the corner of 14th St. and 6th Avenue, where I was standing. Of course, with that many people, it would have probably been a comfortable temperature regardless of the thermometer reading...
This was my first time actually seeing (partially) the infamous New York City Halloween parade. Last year, we wandered down to catch a glimpse, but with so many people on the streets, it was impossible to get close enough to see anything. This year wasn't much different, but the visiting Germans and I left early to get good "seats" and we got reasonably close enough to see some interesting costumes. And getting there early also meant that we were subjected to a wide variety of people complaining about minor things like "I can't breathe", "Stop pushing", "Excuse me, can you please keep walking", "You're stepping on my dog", etc. I wish I could have kept track of some of the things people say when they are faced with stressful situations like not being able to move. Of course, being a family-oriented blog, I wouldn't be able to publish most of them without requiring the visual equivalent of "EarMuff It"...
This week I start working way way way down in South Brooklyn, near Coney Island (you know, where they have the annual hot-dog eating contest, which is almost always won by a short, skinny Japanese guy). This is the first hospital that I've been to that actually has English signs, Spanish signs, and Russian signs. Yes, this is where the Russian mafia resides. Of course, when you cross "Moscow" with "Hospital", you get "Russian Nurses", and that is not a bad thing, as those of you who have had the pleasure of visiting Eastern Europe can attest ;o)....
This was my first time actually seeing (partially) the infamous New York City Halloween parade. Last year, we wandered down to catch a glimpse, but with so many people on the streets, it was impossible to get close enough to see anything. This year wasn't much different, but the visiting Germans and I left early to get good "seats" and we got reasonably close enough to see some interesting costumes. And getting there early also meant that we were subjected to a wide variety of people complaining about minor things like "I can't breathe", "Stop pushing", "Excuse me, can you please keep walking", "You're stepping on my dog", etc. I wish I could have kept track of some of the things people say when they are faced with stressful situations like not being able to move. Of course, being a family-oriented blog, I wouldn't be able to publish most of them without requiring the visual equivalent of "EarMuff It"...
This week I start working way way way down in South Brooklyn, near Coney Island (you know, where they have the annual hot-dog eating contest, which is almost always won by a short, skinny Japanese guy). This is the first hospital that I've been to that actually has English signs, Spanish signs, and Russian signs. Yes, this is where the Russian mafia resides. Of course, when you cross "Moscow" with "Hospital", you get "Russian Nurses", and that is not a bad thing, as those of you who have had the pleasure of visiting Eastern Europe can attest ;o)....
Friday, October 29, 2004
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Brie's Cheese
Thanks to my ability to successfully peer pressure, I'm adding Brie's Cheese to my list of blogs to read...
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