12/30/2006

I AM Evil....and I Switched to the New Blogger

You Are 28% Evil
A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well.In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

12/24/2006

Merry Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;
Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.


Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer. Refrain


We won't go until we get some;
We won't go until we get some;
We won't go until we get some, so bring some out here. Refrain


We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

12/20/2006

Important!

Angie's over on her blog writing about important topics and here I am talking about multiplication facts and posting pictures of Fritz the Night Owl.

Hmmm...

It makes me feel like I should be profound, but, let's face it, I am not in the mood for profound (but you should totally read Angie's).

Also, in absence of my profundity, you should also check out Rasti. It's a blog by a Kurd who blogs about Kurdish interests. He typically focuses on the situation in Turkey, but it's a fantastic read (in particular, his discussion of the Iraq Study Group Report). It's definitely not what you'll see on CNN or Fox.

As for me, things continue as they do. I am really looking forward to Christmas and New Year's. This Friday, Sis, Kate, Erin, Angie and I will be going shopping on Friday with all the crazies. That should be fun (and a little out of control, I bet).

Oh, and did anyone see SNL this weekend? It was hilarious. Even the "ok" sketches were better than their typical "good" sketches. Perhaps you'll all get a **** in a box for Christmas.

"I say we do how we do, yo!"

12/15/2006

Up Late

I got off of work at about 1:30 am and I am still awake. I never feel like sleeping right when I get home which means that I am up late into the night. Er, I mean morning, I guess

Yesterday was Angie's and Kate's birthday. Kate turned 18 and Angie turned 28. Freaky.

For two underemployed people, Angie and I have been making the rounds at the local restaurants lately. We've road tested Mimi's Cafe, Stoney River and El Arapazo in a matter of days. And those are just the new joints. We can thank Vanessa for the trip to Stoney River. She gave us a gift certificate which expired on Wednesday. We went on the last possible day. The food was good, but expensive. In my opinion, it's not worth the price. Plus, I found out that they are owned by the same people that own O'Charley's and you know how I feel about O'Charley's!

Also, I should mention that we tried Coco's again. It's officially off the list of acceptable choices. I wanted to go again so that I could try the bulgogi. Bulgogi is Korean barbequed beef.

Coco's is clearly not a Korean restauant.

In fact, it's possible that none of the employees have ever actually tasted bulgogi before. It was just awful. I inadvertantly ate mom's eggroll and it was the highlight of the meal. Do not go to Coco's!!

In non-food news: It turns out that Kate and Angie share something other than a birthday. They are both terrible with math! A few weeks agao the three of us played a game called Stocks and Bonds from 1965. It requires multiplication and addition. basically, it's multiplication by factors of 10 and addition of up to four digit numbers. Both of them were using their cell phone calculators!

Well, today I tutored Sis' kids on multiplication tables (up to 12). I told Kate and Angie a story about how some of the kids really grasped the idea of multiplying by 12 using (x*10)+(x*2). I went on to say that some of them even used (x*11)+(x*1) which was cool because it meant that they remembered what I taught them last week about 11.

The important part of this story is that they were both like "What!?! I have never heard of this! x*12 is the same as (x*10)+(x*2)!?!" I mean it was shock and disbelief!

Better yet, they've both taken Algebra. I was like "Dudes, it's called the Distributive Property. Look it up."

Of course, it is possible that they both simply deny that 10+2 equals 12. That throws off the whole theory. Maybe they could use their cell phones.

It makes me feel good to tell it since I totally misplaced South Bend, IN a couple of nights ago. In fairness to me, though, I was only a few miles off. I guess it's technically in NW Indiana, not NE, and, technically, it's not closer to Ohio than Illinois. I did, however, correctly identify Indiana's Great Lake and the very fact that it borders one, a fact that was not agreed upon amongst my compatriots - who shall remain nameless. (But before she posts, Sis did not dispute the Lake).

Oh, and be sure to come to the Meeker Christmas Party on Sunday at 7:15 after "Carols and Candles" at the church!

12/09/2006

Barzani criticizes study group for "failing to visit Iraqi Kurdistan"

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - The president of the Kurdistan region of Iraq issued a stinging rejection of the Iraq Study Group's recommendations, saying Kurds "are in no way abiding by this report."

President Massoud Barzani said Thursday that the report contradicts assurances given to Kurdish officials by study group co-chair James Baker before the report's release. Baker "assured us that the special status of Kurdistan was taken into account in the report," Barzani said in a written statement issued late Thursday.

Iraqi Kurdistan officials had "conveyed in a letter the Kurdish point of view," he said. "But the group did not attach any importance to the letter, and it seemed as if they had not read it at all."

Barzani said the Kurdistan officials believe the study group "made some unrealistic and inappropriate recommendations for helping the U.S. to get out of these difficulties."

"If under this pretext, these inappropriate recommendations are imposed on us; we declare, on behalf of the people of Kurdistan, that we reject anything that is against the constitution and the interest of Iraq and Kurdistan," he
said.

Barzani rejected the study group's call for a "new diplomatic offensive" that would include discussions with all of Iraq's neighbours.

The leader's comments came on the same day Bush indicated that Iran and Syria might be included in regional talks about Iraq, if the countries meet certain conditions.

Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair Thursday at the White House, acknowledging during a news conference that, "It's bad in Iraq."

Blair said the report "offers a strong way forward" toward success "because the consequences of failure are severe."

Bush said victory in Iraq is important to security in the Middle East, Britain, the United States and "the civilized world."

Barzani is standing his ground, however.

"We think that this is contrary to the interest of the people of Iraq in general and the people of Iraqi Kurdistan in particular, and also the territorial integrity of Iraq," he said. "It is also interference in the country's internal affairs."

He also said the report places emphasis "on strengthening the central government and weakening the regional ones."

Such a move would be "contrary to the principles of federalism and the constitution that forms the basis upon which the new Iraq is built," he said.

"Here we make it clear that federalism is the only way for preserving the unity of Iraq."

Barzani rejected proposals that seek to pull opposition groups into the government, saying they would amount to "rewarding those who are against the political process and have conducted acts of violence, by including them into the government and authority."

Barzani also:

* Criticized the study group members for "failing to visit Iraqi Kurdistan," calling that "a major shortcoming that adversely influenced the credibility of the assessment."

* Rejected the call for a review, with the help of U.N. experts, of the Iraqi constitution.

* Blasted a proposal to put "oil revenues under the power of the central government and redistribute it in accordance with the ratio of the population."

* Opposed any delay in implementing a constitutional provision in regard to Kirkuk.

* Stated that Iraqis should look first to national reconciliation before the nation's problems are solved by others.

* Said the democratic progress of Iraq and Kurdistan should not be put aside, recalling previous elections and the country's constitution, which "received the support of more than 80 percent of the people in Iraq."

Barzani said he would urge "all Iraqi groups, who believe in the political process, the constitution and a democratic federal Iraq, to take radical steps to solve these problems so that they can be freed from the solutions of the wrong recommendations of the regional and international countries."

12/04/2006

Christmas, Christmastime is Here

I know you have all been laying awake nights wondering what you can get me for Christmas. Well, thanks to Amazon.com, you don't have to wonder any longer. They have given me a simple way to publicize my wishlist.

Check out the sidebar. Right under "I have Power Blogger" you'll see a link to my Amazon.com Wish List! They make it so easy! I wonder what they get out of it...?

I even pared the list down for you. I applied the if-this-is-all-you-got-for-Christmas-and-nothing-else-would-you-be-happy test to each item. Only the strong survive.

The All Request Hour

Remember when I asked for song requests a while back?

Well, here's the finished product. I did my best, but WebJay isn't perfect, so some artists are singing different songs and, in at least one case, I just settled for a song with the same title as the one requested. All in all, though, I think it turned out pretty good!