Far East Cynic

Well, I think I might have fixed the problem induced by IE-9, but it required a good deal of research and experimentation. And who at Microsoft thought putting the tabs needed under the ALT key-is totally beyond me.

This past week was filled with mundane process of getting briefing after briefing-so that the powers that be can say they told you so-if you make a mistake and offend either the military or the German authorities. I also had to go through a long series of paper work drills in order to prevent American Express from sending a hit man after me for the expenses we are racking up while waiting for: 1) my first new paycheck, 2) a house and 3) our car to arrive.

Speaking of cars-I got my German drivers license this week. I wish I could say the same for the S.O.-but I think she may have set a new record for someone who flunked a test where so many of the answers were telegraphed by the instructor in advance.   So now, she is in the penalty box for 2 weeks-which of course means, you know who has to drive everywhere. This is not good since I actually have to start diving into the real reason I am here this week, starting to become a productive member of our work staff.  Which would be a made a lot easier if the IT geeks had not deleted my account in the process of conducting their Windows 7 upgrade. Now I will spend most of Monday on the phone with Help Desk I fear-and hope I can get back all of my e-mails I sent last week. ( Some of which deal with me getting paid).

Of course if the S.O. had gone back to Japan this past summer-when I was in Romania-as I urged her too and renewed her Japanese drivers license as I urged her to, she could have gotten a German license under the provision of Prufungsheit in German law. ( US licenses have reciprocity-but our sovereign Army masters here seem not to know this).

It is not that she does not know the material-but she does not understand the principles of RTFQ and also the methods of English lanugage testing. I knew she was in trouble when it took her more time than most to get 2/3 of the way through the test. Eventually it will dawn on her she needs to pass this test-especially if we end up living where she wants us to live.

Tonight we are watching the “Germany has talent” show-similar to “America has talent” known as DAS SUPER TALENT. The S.O. is loving watching it-although she continually is asking me to translate the performers responses. My German is so atrophied that it is not up to the task-mainly because I have to refresh my vocabulary and they speak to fast. This is one reason once we get settled-I plan to enroll in the intergration courses for new German residents at the Volkshochshule. These course are offered to anyone who gets counseled and signs up in a class where space is available. I’m hoping it can get my German back on a level I had it back in college. The show is kind of interesting-they have their own German version of Simon Cowl (sp?) and in a big surprise to me, one of the judges is black. A sign of the new Germany I think-where all kinds of folks are German citizens. (Learning German at the Volkhochschule is a requirement to become a German citizen). Another interesting facet of the program is that they allow the acts to perform for much longer than America Has Got Talent does. (Right now they have a trapeze act with two 59 year olds-a man and a woman.)

Plus it is what Col Gundel told me I should do.

On other fronts-the house hunting effort continues, with this definately being a landlords market. ( or a sellers market). We have basically “interviewed” with several landlords-and are waiting to find out who finds us worthy. The leases here have an anti-discrimination clause in them, but for the life of me, I don’t see how it is working.

Speaking of language-it has become an interesting dialectic for me. My German knowledge is weak to mediocre at best-and its complicated by the fact that the S.O and I conduct our conversations in a 50-50 mix of English and Japanese. ( She will speak to me in Japanese and then revert to English and I will do vice versa. Or she will ask me a question in English and I will answer her in Japanese, or vice versa). So now I have been expaling some things in German in English and then some in Japanese-so that she can use her electric dictionary. I’m not lingustically gifted-so its a challenge. ( Our ability to converse in Japanese as come in handy during house tours and conversations with potential landlords, they look at us quizzically as the S.O. tells me she hates something, while smiling all the while). I am having to work hard to keep all the vocabulary in the right box.

And so it goes. House and car? They are out there somewhere-I sure wish car would come soon.

But it is all good.

This a test to see if the fix works.

Damn Internet Explorer 9!

For some reason there is an issue with typing a post in Word Press with my theme and Internet explorer nine-which I upgraded to, because I wanted to be able to pay my electric bills while I was in Romania.

I had a nice post all typed out for you and then when I hit publish……..GONE!

So suffice it to say we are doing well after a busy week-with ups and downs. When I have the time ( the S.O. is up now and whining to go to breakfast)-I will regale you with them.

FUCK YOU BILL GATES!

Spent the day house hunting with the S.O. At this point-a root canal is starting to look more than a little attractive.

You know its bad when I feel like envying Tiger…………

This is a slightly unhinged rant about BDU’s. For the person who has never spent time around the military BDU stands for: Battled Dress Uniform.  One of the reasons I joined the Navy was that I would never have to wear one. ( Which is not entirely true-I had to wear them during Gulf War I and again during my sojurns to the Middle East from Japan). They are big-and unattractive. The Navy for the most part resisted them-until Task Force Uniform came along and created the abomination that is Navy Working Uniform.

The problem is, in a place where you have representatives from all four services-the people have started to look all alike. And it must be a night mare for someone trying to figure out who to salute and who not to. The Navy , Army and USAF people pretty much all look alike now-save for the fact that the Navy’s are blue. Only the Marines seem to have stumbled on something distinctive-and even that is not so great.

There are two things I do not understand. Why the Army and the other services have their people wear these things for office work. And why do they have to make every one look so dumpy? Especially the women.

I guess its a sign of my age. When I went to my first squadron, we had a lot of folks who were raised in the old school. If you were not on the flight schedule-you had better be in Khakis or in the Winter, Navy Blues. ( Johnny Cash for those who remember the nickname). Or even the ever popular aviation greens.

Now-people wear it every where. Even places where it just does not make any real sense. At least with the old uniforms-the Navy and Marines looked distinctive. Now they look like just a part of the herd.

And that’s just really sad. And thus, as a result, I feel really grateful to have my “uniform” -a business shirt, slacks, sometimes a suit coat and a tie. ( Cartoon ties still are used on Wednesdays for me). At least it feels right.

End of rant for today.