I had a very typical conversation with one of the women in my Police Officer class. She asked me what I though of Sudan. "The people are so friendly and generous," I said. "What do you think of Americans?"
"They're the enemy."
"So, am I the enemy?"
"No, Bush is."

I had an incredibly rewarding experience today. I've been studying Arabic on and off since I got here and picking up words from flatmates and people on the street. Today, for the first time, I was able to read some Arabic script in my book. Then I went to the market and had a conversation (almost) entirely in Arabic!

Things are already starting to seem normal here. It's weird. Just a month ago it was all so foreign: the noise, the people, the language, the culture, the food, the dirt. It is not new or different anymore. It's amazing how quickly we can adapt to a new environment.

My classes at Khartoum University and at the police station are going well. I was talking to the highest ranking police officer in my class the other day. Asking him about the most difficult parts of his job. He said that when he kicks down the door and storms someones house with his automatic rifle and 30 of his closest friends, it is quite scary. He also had a hard time when they shipped him off to Darfur to fight the rebels. I asked if I could come to the rifle range with him, but he said that we would both be arrested (they would think I was a spy). Oh well. Malesh.

Emily came to my classes today at Khartoum University. We were teaching the Zoology students in on of thier lab rooms. There were mice and rats in the back of the room and chickens under the tables. In the middle of class, Emily started screaming and pointing outside. There was a monkey climbing the bars on the window! Apparently the Zoology department use to have many monkeys, but a few of them escaped. Now the campus has a problem. The students said that they have to watch their food closely, or the monkeys will steal it.

The weather was actually quite nice today, because there was an enormous sand storm blocking out the sun. It wasn't sandy at ground level. Guess it was just all up in the atmosphere. It made the temperature very pleasant.

My class of police officers is off to a slow start. Some of them have a fairly good knowledge of English, but most of them don't know what the hell I'm talking about. I have to get the ones who understand me to explain the activities to those who don't. They seem to be enjoying the class, regardless.

I started teaching at my main placement today. I thought that I would be teaching members of the Wildlife Federation, but again things were not as I expected. My students were actually police officers! They were quite shy at first. They had all studied English before, but were not confident with the language or able to hold a conversation. I tried to get them to describe things in their house, but ended up teaching the difference between the words is and are. Regardless, they had a great time and seemed eager to practice the language.

Here are some random photos, including some from our latest sailing trip.

We are both starting to get very busy with our teaching jobs. My first class at the Wildlife Center is tomorrow. It takes an hour and a half on the bus to get there. We attended a party at our friend Rosa's house last night. The attendees were the usual mix of volunteers, NGO workers and English speaking Sudanese. Rosa's downstairs neighbor brought up a few pitchers of her home brewed beer. It was delicious and gone very quickly. Stupid Sharia Law has everyone thirsting for a good pint. On the way home, we were hassled by the bus driver, who tried to collect more money than he was owed. The people here think all foreigners are rich, so they constantly try to rip us off. It gets old very quickly.

So many people, so few limbs.

Here is how you ride the bus in Sudan:

There are two types of busses, large and small. The large busses are slower, stop frequently and cost 50 Dinar (25 cents). The small busses are faster, stop less frequently and cost 100 Dinar (50 cents). There are two people who work on the bus, the Driver and the Money Collector. Soon after the bus leaves, the Money Collector snaps his fingers; this means it's time to pay. Everyone sends their money forward and waits for change. When you want to stop, you snap at the Money Collector and he, in turn, hisses at the driver. After you get off, the Money Collector will again hiss at the driver, signaling him to go.

I got my placement! It isn't at the Koranic University, like I though. I will be teaching at the Wildlife Federation. They are in charge of a large wildlife preserve in the Blue Nile State. I will even be able to visit, camp at the preserve and see the wild animals. The students are not very advanced and they are shy about speaking English.

I also had my first class at the Khartoum University today. My students are all studying Zoology and seem to have a strong grasp of the English language. The class will probably end up being just a discussion group. The first day went well. I had them introduce themselves and tell me about their interests. They could speak and understand much more than I expected. Rachel, another SVP volunteer who has taught this class before, said that she usually just gives them a topic and lets them discuss.

Emily and I spent the evening shopping at the largest market in Sudan. It is located about 1/2 a kilometer (don't give me crap, they use the metric system here) behind our house, but we rarely go. Apparently foreigners don't get good deals like the locals do. Our friend Muja (who is Sudanese) came with us to help bargain. It was great. She argued in Arabic like a champion. I got some very nice, sturdy leather shoes for $15 and we got small book bags for $5 each.

A couple quick antidotes about the bureaucratic incompetence of the Sudanese Government:

I was talking about the fires in the trenches with one of the SVP organizers. He is from a well to do family (and their house is apparently not made of mud). One day his house caught fire. They called the police and waited for someone to help them put out the fire. It took an hour for the fire department to show up, and they forgot the water!

The government here (like most governments) can't seem to contain it's growth. There is a ministry for everything. Today, while I was on the bus to town, we passed the Ministry of Ministries!

Our University placements are slowly coming together. If all goes according to plan, Emily's main placement will be at the Omderman Islamic University and mine will be at the University of the holy Quran and Islamic studies. Should be interesting. I will also be teaching at the Univeristy of Khartoum for a couple hours each week.

The money situation here is very confusing. They have recently switched from the Pound to the Dinar and finally to the Sudanese Pound. There is no difference, besides the number of zeros. It becomes difficult though, because most people still talk in terms of the original Pound and the new Sudanese Pound is not really in circulation yet. What ends up happening is that when someone says that something costs 1000 Dinars, they actually mean 100 (the equivalent of 50 Cents).

A friend of mine is teaching English to a group of soldiers who come from both the Rebel groups and the Government forces. It is part of the peace agreement, which allows the opposing factions to interact with eachother and hopefully facilitate the peace process. The problem is that they all bring thier guns to school. My friend didn't know that this was a common practice, so on the first day of class he freaked out when the opposing soldiers walked into the room with Rocket Launchers and AK47s!

Today Emily and I visited the Mahdi's tomb and the museum at the Khalifa's house. It was very interesting to see some of the artifacts from when the Sudanese were fighting the British. I especially liked posing with one of the machine guns used by General Gordon's Army in the battle!

The last photo is of a fire in the trench next to our house. These crazy trenches are always on fire because they are full of trash and people toss in thier cigarettes. No one seemed to care that it was on fire though. Everything here is made of bricks and mud, so the buildings don't burn down.

I woke up early this morning and made my way into town. Friday is the weekend here, so downtown Khartoum was abnormally quiet. Before I left, I asked my friend for directions to the Blue Nile Sailing Club. His directions were, "from the SVP office go back and to the left". So I walked in that direction and eventually ended up beside the Republican Palace. The guards didn't understand English (and I don't speak much Arabic), so I drew a picture of a sailboat on my hand. They pointed me in the right direction. I walked around the Palace, back to the Nile and kept going until I hit the Sailing Club.

Not many people were there when I showed up, but before long the place was crawling with Hawaja's (the Sudanese term for foreigner or white person). Each Hawaja went out with an experienced Sudanese sailor on a small, two person boat. We raced around buoys up and down the Nile. Mohamed and I came in third. Not bad, but he said that I needed more practice.

After the race, a huge bowl of Ful was served. We were all hungry. Emily and Nick (a friend from SVP) showed up a little while later. We sat around chatting in the shade beside the Nile enjoying the cool breeze. For lunch, one of the Hawaja's called his driver (apparently you are treated very well when you work for a NGO) and we went out to eat. Many of the people we were with came to Sudan with SVP, but got jobs with NGOs after their teaching stint. They took us to the nice part of town (a far cry from where we live) and we ate at a Turkish restaurant.

Made it back home sometime in the afternoon. I called the SVP coordinator and found out that we should have placements with local Universities by sometime next week. We'll see what happens.

Here is a quick video of the market / bus station near our house. Emily and I are here just about every day to catch a bus into the main part of town.

We're back from Al Obied. It turned out to be a total disaster. I knew we should have sent an SVP person to check out the accommodations ahead of time. Too bad Momen fired everyone last week.

Took the bus to Al Obied last Thursday. We didn't do much on the day we got in. We were picked up by a guy claiming to be the head of the English Department at Kordafon University. He turned out to be an asshole, not to be the department head. They put us up in a small "guest house", like a hotel with shared bathrooms. Friday is the weekend here. It is the Muslim day of prayer as well as the only day they have off work. We were taken by this jerk to the home of the town's deputy mayor. There we met the mayor and all of the other authorities in town. They treated me kindly, but they were very sexist toward Emily. They insisted that she pour tea for everyone (because she is a woman) and encouraged me to get a second wife. If she wasn't already offended enough, the guy told Emily that she is fat and lazy for sleeping 8 hours a night.

Soon many other officials showed up and what must have been every high ranking military officer in Kordofan. We were driven to a small field, which was filled with just about everyone in the entire city. They had us sit up front, behind the stage. It turns out that one of the Army Generals from the town was retiring. The entire town showed up to celebrate. Various military brigades reenacted battles and showed their skills by fighting one another.

Saturday they showed us where we would be living, while we taught at the university. It was a small, half built room in the middle of the desert, at least 30 minutes from anything! The students also lived here. So we would basically be stuck in the middle of nowhere with all of the students, who would no doubt harass us daily. This is besides the fact that the house was not built yet, did not have a bathroom and did not have a kitchen. We told them that it was not going to work, so they showed us a place in town. This one was finished being built, but again did not have a bathroom or kitchen. They told us that it would be constructed just outside. Riiiiiiight.

It was obvious that they were not prepared for our arrival. Momen did not believe us at first and he seemed annoyed that we would be coming back to Khartoum. Too bad. We were not going to live in their half built room in the middle of the desert. Now we are back in Khartoum. It almost feels like being home again.

Haven't gotten a chance to write for the last few days because I have been laid up in bed with some kind of mighty African viral infection. Emily got it too. It was horrible. The only time I got out of bed was to got to the hospital.

Let me just tell you, African hospitals are not like American hospitals. They didn't bother checking our temperature, but they did test us for Malaria. The test was actually quite interesting. The doctor pricked our fingers to draw blood, then sucked the blood through a straw with his mouth. He then spit the blood into a vile for testing. The test came back negative, but he said that it isn't very accurate. So if we still felt sick in a few days, we could come back for the other (more accurate) Malaria test. He also gave us antibiotics, which have made us feel much better. We're still not up for traveling yet.

Two nights ago we attended a lecture about Darfur at the British Council. It was a thinly vialed plea for money from a local NGO. Very boring. We didn't stay long.

Woke up very late yesterday. We are both feeling the effects of the time change (it usually hits about a week into the trip). Many of the local SVP volunteers and some friends came over last night. The apartment was packed. We ended up getting a bowl of Ful, smoking the Sheesha (hookah), and going for milk. The milk is like melted ice cream. Packed with sugar, like everything here. It is served from a small, nondescript window which doesn't open until about 11:00 pm. Keep in mind that alcohol is illegal here, so people find other things to drink at night.

When people come over, they often end up staying the night, because the buses stop running before midnight. So the people who were here yesterday were also here today. Fridays are the religious day of rest in Sudan, so today was like the weekend. We hung out most of the day, then went to watch the Sufi dancing just before sunset. It is one of the main attractions in Khartoum, but it was quite boring. The Sufis mostly just played drums, chanted and stood around. When the drum beat got going very fast, a few of them danced. But it was lame.

We found out that we are being placed in Al Obied, the capital of the Kordofan state. It is located almost directly in the center of the country and it is a large city, like Khartoum, but not as big or crowded. We are very excited to head out there and start teaching. The city is an 8 hour bus ride from here; we are suppose to leave on Sunday (En Sharlot).

The party yesterday was fun. We met one of Johanna's crazy friends near Suuk Arabi and drove to the posh area of town (which I didn't even know existed, given we live in the slums). The guests consisted of many SVP volunteers, Westerners from other organizations and English speaking Sudanese. Everyone was asked to bring food, so Emily and I decided to get cookies. We stopped by a local bakery before the party and they asked us how many kilos we wanted. Well, Emily and I have no idea how many cookies are in a kilo, so we ordered three. It seemed like a good amount, until they actually started putting the cookies into the box. They just kept piling in more and more cookies! We were laughing hysterically, because there were just so many of them. Finally they put the large box on the scale. It wasn't enough. They added about a dozen more cookies before it was enough. We now have more cookies than we know what to do with!

We attended an English class with one of the other volunteers yesterday. The highlight of the class was when we were trying to describe the word "rude". Most people didn't understand, but one girl knew all too well. She said, "oh, you mean like a bitch?"

Last night we went to Mohamed's house. He is the main coordinator between the volunteers and SVP. Sudanese people are know for their generous hospitality and he was no exception. He served an enormous try of Ful with bread and vegetables.

Today we attended class with a woman named Raga. She teaches at a small elementary school two bus rides away from our house. They didn't give us any training or warning, they just split up Emily and I and gave each of us our own class to teach. I had a great time, because my students were a little more advanced. We went over the names of various animals and sang Old McDonald. Emily had a tougher time, because her students were still learning the alphabet.

After school we made it to the main market in Khartoum and took the bus home by ourselves (for the first time). This evening we are going to a party hosted by another volunteer. We have events planned every night this week. My social life is better here than in the US!

Woke up yesterday at 3:30 am, checked out of the hotel and caught a cab to London's Heathrow Airport. We arrived much earlier than expected, so we had to wait a while for the flight. The plane taxied out of the gate, then waited 45 minutes to take off. By the time we got to Frankfurt, our connecting flight to Khartoum had left. It took a couple hours in line to book another flight. This time, instead of flying directly to Khartoum, we had to go through Cairo. We arrived in Cairo at 6:30 pm. Our connecting flight didn't leave until 11:30 pm, so the Egyptian guards kept us in a small room at the bottom of the airport until just before our flight. There were other people down there with us, but we were kept longer, even when the other people's flights left later. Our flight left an hour late, so we got to Khartoum at 3:30 am. Momen, the SVP coordinator picked us up.

Just after we laid down in bed, we were awoken by the Muslim call to prayer. The many mosques in the area seemed to be competing to be the loudest. We finally got to sleep as the sun was coming up. A few hours later, we were awoken to loud music and activity. I looked out the window and got my first glimpse of the city. The streets are dusty and unpaved, with large trash filled ditches on the side. Small bridges cross the ditches. The buildings are made of brick, but the bricks seem to be made of mud from the street. Most are falling apart, few have real roofs. The people are surprisingly well dressed, wearing long with robes or western style collared shirts.

We borrowed 200 Dinar (about $1.00) from another volunteer and bought breakfast. I didn't know what to order, so I just gave the man our money. He brought two falafel sandwiches. Not bad!

After breakfast we met up with Johanna, the same woman who lent us the money, and her friend KuKu. The four of us took the bus into town. The main square was dirty, packed, and bustling with activity. It is the city's main market. Vendors sold all kinds of food, clothing and junk. We fought our way through the crowd to the SVP office. There we met some of the group's organizers and changed money.

We ate lunch at a small corner cafe. The food was Egyptian style rice with pasta and sauce. From there we walked to the British Council. This is where most Westerners meet and hang out. They have a nice library, computers and TV. Meetings and discussion groups are held a few times a week. At 4:00 pm we headed home and took a nap.

For dinner we went to a nearby restaurant and were served a large bowl of Ful and strips of bread. No silverware. You must scoop up the Ful with your bread. After dinner we went to a small courtyard off the main street to smoke a hookah. A large group of men were gathered around a TV watching American Professional Wresting. Apparently people in Africa love it! Before going to bed, we gathered around on of the guy's laptops and watched the Matrix: Reloaded.

Our flight to London was on Thursday evening. The flight was uneventful, but getting through customs was a problem. The woman questioned us endlessly and we told her everything we knew, which wasn't much. We didn't have any of the contact numbers with us and knew very little about what we would be doing in London. She wasn't happy. Finally, after recording everything we told her and vowing that we would be hassled every time we entered London for the rest of our lives, she let us pass. The trip to our hotel involved a train ride, a taxi and much confusion. We had reservations at a hotel recommended by the organization. It looked bad on the internet, so I promised Emily that I would get us reservations elsewhere. Well, I didn't and the hotel ended up being worse than we expected. Emily was pissed. We met the guy who had organized our trip and got a ton of useful information. After meeting him, we went up to our room and it was terrible. We ended up hauling our heavy bags through the freezing rain to another hotel. This one was better, so we booked a room.

A couple hours later we were met by a former volunteer named Katy, who took us to the Sudanese Embassy. It was a nice long walk through a beautiful park, but we were immediately turned away. The woman told us to come back the next day between 3:00 and 3:45. We walked back to the hotel, ate at a nearby restaurant and struggled to stay awake until 8:30.

Thursday we walked down Oxford St. (a big shopping district) looking for sandels. Apparently they don't sell sandels in London in January. We made it back to the embassy at the appointed time, met Katy and were again turned away. This time they said that they must send the applications to Khartoum for approval, because we are American. Katy got on the phone with someone who knows someone who knows the Ambassador. He said that he would call someone else to meet us at the embassy the next day.

After a long, cold walk, we made it to the British Museum. There we saw ancient Egyptian mummies ad the Rosetta Stone (among other things). We met Katy, a Sudanese man, another former volunteer and someone who will be going to Sudan in a couple weeks for dinner. It took an hour on the subway to get there (it was located in the ghetto) and the food was definitely not worth the trek.

Today we were at the embassy again. Osama Salah met with the Ambassador on our behalf and we were assured that everything would go through. After many delays and a sprint to the bank for more money, we got the Visa approved. Tomorrow we are off to Sudan!

On Wednesday, after a long fight to get the U-haul trailer that we reserved, Emily and I packed up our apartment and started the journey North. We stopped at a hotel in Georgia and finished the trek on Thursday. Finally we are out of Florida! It's not that we didn't like living in Orlando... Well actually it is that.

We have spent the weekend organizing our stuff and shopping for some last minute clothes. Everything that we aren't bringing went into storage. Soon we will be on our way to Sudan! Hopefully I will be able to keep my blog updated while we're gone, but the Internet access will probably be spotty (at best).

Emily and I have only been married a month and we're already old farts; we hung out at home for new years. We had fun though.

At 3:00 we started making our famous meatballs, which simmer for 4 hours. After dinner we had a bonfire in the backyard and made smores. Then we hooked up the DVD player in the bedroom (the couch in the den is gone, so we can't watch TV there) and watched Jackass 2. The movie ended at 11:00, but we didn't get out of bed. I actually had to wake her up for new years.

So they killed Sadam...

What was the point really? I'm sure it made some people feel good. But did it solve anything? Of course not. I guess they just didn't know what else to do with him. Iraq is still much worse off than when he was in power. Maybe they should have let him solve this whole civil war problem. It sure would have been interesting to see what would have happened if he was put back in charge.

Today was my last day of work! It was pretty boring actually. There were some more packaging revisions to do, but not much else. Typical.

After work, I picked up Emily and went out for drinks with some of my ex-coworkers. We sat around for about an hour, then Emily dropped me off at home. We have only one car now (Emily sold her's back to Carmax). I don't understand how people can live without a car or even sharing a car! It makes everything so much more difficult. For example, tonight I wanted to go to the store. So I changed clothes, pulled my bike out of the backyard, hopped on, and went nowhere. The tires were almost flat. Everything has been taking much longer than it should this week. We have to coordinate our schedule a day in advance. I can't even imagine how we would get anything done if we didn't have at least one car.

Emily and I spent the holidays in Dallas with her family. It was great. I love Emily's family.

We got in on Sunday (the 24th). Sarah, Kat and Jenny were already there. Rebbecca and Todd came a short time later. Emily and I assembled lasagna, while everyone else set the table and made the rest of the meal. It turned out wonderfully, of course.

On Christmas day, we went to Church. Afterward, Emily's dad asked the priest to bless our upcoming trip to Sudan. He said that he wouldn't bless me because I'm a "dirty Jew". Well, he left out the "dirty" part, but it was still rude. The rest of the day was spent playing 80's Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. Dinner was Wally's traditional Roast Beast. Again everyone helped cook and the food was great!

Tuesday I went to the mall with Sara and Emily. As you can imagine, it was packed. The crowd annoyed the crap out of me (going to the mall is bad enough without all of the people). We spent a few hours there before watching the movie "The Good Shepherd". I couldn't stay awake for the first 45 minutes (because I was tired, not because it was bad), but I was interested once I woke up.

Almost everyone had already gone home, but we had dinner with Wally, Kathy, Sara, and Rob. Wednesday morning we flew home.

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

-EE Cummings

Thanks Reuters.

Let's do it!
http://libertyamendment.org/

Grant should be happy about this... And so should the rest of you, for that matter.

I can't decide which one I like better. What do you think?

What is it with Renaissance Fairs where everyone with a huge ass thinks they’re royalty?

From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.
— Sir Winston Churchill

We're married!!! Here's the story of the past week:

Emily and I flew up to DC on Tuesday. Got in, hung out with the family members who were there, and waited for others. Wednesday we started to prepare for the wedding. We couldn't move the furniture yet, because there were still more people coming and we had to leave most of it for Thanksgiving dinner, so we went shopping for decorations and set up the two stereo systems. By Thursday things had really begun to pick up. Most of the day was spent with the family and preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. Emily and I ate at her mom's house, then drove to Baltimore to see my family. In Baltimore, someone stumbled across a couple drawers of photos that no one had seen in a while. We had fun looking at the old pictures and laughing at my dad's poor report cards.

Friday was spent moving furniture into the garage, decorating and doing lots of preparations for the big event. Emily had a "girls only" party, while the parents and the guys went out for dinner. I spent the night at Lindsey's house, so I wouldn't see Emily on the day of our wedding.

Saturday I woke up late, went out to breakfast with Lindsey and spent some time at the National Archives looking at the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Very interesting!

Lindsey and I arrived back at Emily's mom's house around 4:00. We did some last minute preparation, and the photographer arrived early. He took candid shots of Emily's sisters and I, before the guests started to arrive. By 6:30, the caterers had set up, the string quartet began playing and the house started to fill up.

The actual ceremony started a little after 7:00. Everyone made room for the procession through Emily's living room. I escorted my grandmothers and my mother. When everyone was in place, the quartet began to play the song to which Emily had chosen to walk down the isle. When I heard the song was the first time I became nervous. Emily came down the stairs and was escorted to the front by her Dad and Step-Dad.

The ceremony itself went well. Lindsey was standing right where I was looking and she spent the entire time giggling and making faces. Emily and I glanced at each other throughout the ceremony and tried not to crack up. It was over before we knew it.

The party went well. Everyone seemed to get along, enjoy the food and have a good time.

Thank you Rebecca for planning a fabulous event. We couldn't have done it without you! Thank you Eileen and Tom for hosting the event and helping us pay for it. Thank you Wally and Cathy for supporting us, and helping to pay for it. Thank you Jen, Sara, Kat, John, Todd, and Rob for giving your time, support and energy to helping make the wedding great! I can't say enough about all of the love and support I have received from Emily's family. You have made me feel very welcomed and I appreciate everything you have done for us.

My company sent me to Kansas City this weekend to attend the USACi world finals. It's basically the world's loudest car stereo contest. I met up with a couple of Jensen salesmen, one from New Jersey, one from Ohio.

Friday was the show setup. We headed over to the convention center and found the show car and a stack of 2005 literature. Obviously that wasn't going to work, but we did eventually secure some up to date brochures from someone who was coming in later that night.

We spent two hours walking around downtown and The Village looking for bars and restaurants, before finally settling on a place which had both. The food wasn't that good, but I don't think my coworkers had any idea; they each downed about a dozen drinks before and during dinner. The restaurant had a club downstairs, so after eating we checked it out. Again, not very good, so we spent the rest of the evening at the place next door.

Saturday was the start of the show. The convention center was filled with show cars owned by manufacturers (like us), retail stores, instillation companies, and car enthusiasts. Some of the cars were very well styled and meticulously built, others were just boxes of speakers on wheels (with the entire interior stripped out). The top competitors had to push their cars into the judging area, because they was nowhere to sit inside the "vehicle". The funny part about the judging was that the top cars were often the quietest. They were sealed up so well that the owners had to screw the doors shut with a pneumatic drill. A large truck sponsored by Pioneer broke the world record, but from the outside it sounded like a cellphone vibrating on the table (only a bit louder).

Besides the stereo competition, there were some horrible bands playing, UFC style fights, ugly girls in bikinis.

Today I got woken up early by one of the salesmen from my company. He was still dressed in the clothes he was wearing yesterday and he reeked of booze. He gave me the passes to get into the show and said that he and everyone else were catching early flights home. I ended up having to sit at the booth all day by myself.

And WE are suppose to be the ones spreading peace and democracy? Maybe we're not exactly cut out for the role...

Best food ever created? Kat, you gotta bring me a slice when you come to the wedding...

So the Democrats have won it all... I'm happy about it, not because I like the Democrats, but because the Republicans are bent on driving this country into the ground with their over-spending, war-craving, fascist-loving ways. Also, a gridlock in government generally means that they won't get anything done (good for us and good for the economy). And I'm sooooo glad that Rumsfeld is gone.

Not to boast, but I told you so! How could the rest of the country not have seen that this war was a bad idea from the beginning? I was in DC protesting the war before it even started.

When are we going to learn to mind our own business? We need to bring our military home and keep them here. How can they protect Americans if they aren't even here?

While doing my research for tomorrow's election, (who are my choices, what do they stand for, etc) I noticed something very peculiar. Ever since Bush took office, the Republicans and the Democrats seem to have switched on some very important issues. Specifically,the Democrats seem to have taken over as the more fiscally responsible party! I'm sure it's just in reaction to Bush's reckless disregard for our national budget, but it's good to see that the Democrats have picked up where the Republicans left off.

Another interesting observation I have made about the party platforms is that the Republicans have taken over as the "look to government to solve all of your problems" party. Just listen to their rhetoric about terrorism, illegal immigrants, family values, natural disasters, emergency preparedness, weapons of mass destruction, homosexuals, disease pandemics, etc, etc. No wonder anxiety and depression have become national epidemics!

That being said, I plan to vote Democrat for House and Senate seats tomorrow and a mixture of Republican, Democrat and Libertarian (where my heart truly lies) for the other positions. He seems like a bit of a nut job and might be a serial killer, but my favorite candidate is John Wayne Smith.

This is the first week of my new job. For those of you who don't know, I accepted a job with Audiovox. I left because the salary was about $20k more, not because it seemed better than teaching at Full Sail. Come to think of it, there isn't much that is better than teaching at Full Sail. I had class 3 days a week, every other month. Sure there was random other stuff to do throughout the time off, but it certainly wasn't like a regular 9-5 job. On top of the nice hours, I had access to every type of film gear you could imagine. For example, I was in charge of a $300,000+ package of HD cameras (the Sony Cinealta F-900, if you must know).

At Audiovox I will be part of the team that designs and makes the car audio gear, including the new multimedia head units (motorized touch screen video displays, etc).

In other news, the wedding plans seem to be coming together nicely thanks to Emily's sister Rebecca. Seriously, without her we probably wouldn't have a wedding at all. Her and Emily have been planning the whole thing and it seems to be coming together nicely. I can't wait!

John Quincy ADAMS on U.S. foreign policy:

"[America] goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will commend the general cause by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom."

-- John Quincy Adams, Speech before the House of Representatives, July 4, 1821; quoted in William Bonner and Pierre Lemieux (Editors), The Idea of America (Les Belles Lettres, 2003), p. 237.

I had a bad car day yesterday. First, when I was driving to work, I stopped to get gas. After pumping my gas, the car wouldn't start. The battery terminal looked terribly corroded, so I poured Coke on it. No help. Someone at the gas station had to give me a jump start. When I got the car going, I noticed that the a/c no longer got cold. Of course the heat still worked, but that doesn't help in Florida.

Last night I went to the bar with Grant. We went to Steak n' Shake afterward, and when we were leaving he asked me what happened to my rear bumper. Sure enough, the corner of my bumper was dented in. No note, of course.

Emily and I have some exciting news! We are going to get married on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The ceremony and party will take place at the Doshier Gardens in Virginia. Rebbecca, Emily's sister, is planning the wedding. Hope to see all of you there...

I'm glad to see that USAA has good account security. Today I tried to log-on to Emily's USAA account to check her statement balance (I pay all of our bills using online billpay). For some reason her account was locked. So, I called them and spoke in a butch dyke voice, pretending to be her. The guy was skeptical; he kept putting me on hold, then coming back and asking security questions (may of which I either didn't know or got wrong). Then he called me "Sir" by accident and again questioned my identity when I didn't correct him. I assured him that I was in fact Emily. He ended up helping me log onto her account and calling me "Mam" for the rest of the conversation.

Here are some photos I took this morning at the Softball Complex next to my house. They are for use as examples in my class...

You know what I need? A unique and iconic hair (head or facial) style. Think about it. I will name some famous/infamous men. I want you to picture them and note the first physical trait you think of...

Hitler

Einstein

Lenin

Nitzche

Washington

Click on comments to see my answers, add your own, or make suggestions for my new style.

According to statistics on the number of deaths from terrorism vs. the number of deaths from law enforcement, you are much more likely to be killed by the police than by a terrorist. Yet we are spending billions of dollars fight the "war on terror" and nothing on the "war on government".

In other news, Emily and I have been working on getting our College Park house refinanced. We will either rent it out or be living in it by next month. Nothing exciting is going on, so I'll write more when I have something to say.

Here we are in the middle of tropical storm Ernesto. I experienced 75 mph winds about 10 minutes ago... after opening my car window on the highway. Actually it's been pretty nice weather today. It's cloudy with mild tempertures, no rain and no wind. Full Sail was closed, not that I have a class in session anyway. Just a nice excuse for a day off.

The civilian death toll in Iraq for the month of July is above 3,400 people. Let's put that into perspective. 2,819 people were killed on September 11th. 37 people were killed in the bombing of the London Underground.

So far the Iraqi war has caused over 40,000 civilian deaths. How many of those people would still be alive, if it weren't for this pointless war?

Given the US military can not be blamed for all of the deaths, but it is our tax money that is funding this enormous mistake. When you go to the polls, think about where your tax money will be spent. Normally I would say to vote for whichever candidate will take the least of your money or the least of your freedom, but it is obvious that neither party values fiscal responsibility or freedom. Therefore, assume both parties will steal and waste your money equally and vote with your conscious not your wallet.

If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier -- so long as I'm the dictator.
-George W. Bush, Dec. 19, 2000

I believe that people would be alive today if there were a death penalty.
- Nancy Reagan

My class is back in session. As many of you already know, the class runs for one month, every other month. We have a much smaller class than last time, 32 instead of 58. This makes the entire job of organizing and filming the projects much more manageable. Also, we have chosen to break the class into 4 groups, with each instructor in charge of a single group. Therefore, each group gets more direction, supervision and attention from the instructors. They seem like a good group of students. This month should be fun!