Far East Cynic

Whether you want to or not.

Definitely. And if you think that's not right-whatever you do,  don't try committing Google Seppicu!

Ok-let us know. How many of you Googled "pocket bears"?

This is the S.O. when it comes to packing a suitcase:

Sorry for the lack of postings. Have been back and forth to Ramstein twice this week-and it snowed on Thursday.

So when I got back I just submerged in drinking beer and stumbling off to bed.

Tomorrow the S.O. and I leave for a 3 day skiiing trip. No laptops to be taken. 

Pics to follow and hopefully no broken bones-since I have not been skiing in 5 years.

In the meantime-I came across this little form one can use with your women friends:

Santa-san  came!

Well not really, Santa Claus doesn't really stop at our house anymore-and the S.O. and I could barely muster up any energy to shop for each other, either. What she wants-I cannot afford anymore. What I want-she's simply disinclined to give.

Ah symmetry!

But did you ever, in far better times,   wake up to hear little kids saying that? Sure you have. Perhaps you said it your self when you were a kid……..(Ok maybe not the -san part-but you know what I mean!) That must mean there is only one thing to say:

Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!

Posting will resume when I can muster the time or the energy.

Got in the car this morning, as I do every workday morning and prepared to head out to work. The car has an I-pod jack to connect up the I-Pod. The I-Pod is set to random so it plays anything in a random order.

Guess which song it picked to play first today?

Long live the Twinkie!

The S.O. and I drove up to Frankfurt yesterday. To have lunch at a restaurant named Fujiwara. It is in Sachsenhausen which is across the Main river from downtown Frankfurt. Nihongo is spoken there. In fact-it is spoken more than German. It was worth the trip.

For those who don't like driving-which I don't but was forced into since the SO decided on this at the last minute-you can take a train to Frankfurt HBF, and then transfer to the U or S Bahn. Go to Hauptwache and then go south towards Sud Bahnhof. Get off at Schweizer Platz and walk a block. You might want to make reservations.

As a Disney stockholder I have great hopes for the merger of Star Wars and Walt Disney. However as a bonafide SCI Fi fan-I also can recognize that this merger has a great possibility of screwing up a time honored legend.

The picture below probably explains it well:

Outgoing Director,  LTG Patrick O'Reilly,  issues some final guidance to his senior staff:

Laugh if you must-but trust me-similar conversations have occurred in real life there……

At least every one who goes into the service. Laugh if you will-but when you are at the beginning of the journey, you always imagine yourself doing something great, unique and hero-worthy. Its only later that you realize that the heroism comes from a lot of you doing both routine and sometimes scary things that makes for whatever constitutes heroism-at least in the Naval Service. On the back end of the journey you realize how silly that vision was.

But never underestimate the effects of childhood idols on the cartoon screen in getting you there. Anybody remember this show? I must confess I have seen every episode. As both a child AND as a young adult. ( Gave me something to do while holding a bottle in a baby's mouth.)

No reason you can't set your own records while watching the Olympics. And one benefit of being able to watch the Olympics on BBC-is half these items are never said by British announcers.

For those of you stuck with Bob Costas…….well, it sucks to be you. Drink up!

In honor of "Support Chick Fil A and its pompous evangelical CEO" day-I did the only logical thing. I got on a plane and left the USA.

This evening, I will have a beer and a roast beef sandwich, or maybe even some Fleischkase prepared by those heathen, socialist, Germans.

I plan to spend some time watching porn in Dan Cathy's honor too.

In the middle of a hectic work / travel schedule. Have a trip to elsewhere in Deutschland on the horizon, immediately followed by a trip back to the Whining States of America. Part business-part familial pilgrimage.

In the interim-between going back and forth to both work and the doctor-I got a new toy:

I finally got tired of my non smart, pre-paid,  German cell phone. Perhaps not the smartest idea I have ever had-especially since I hope to be on my way back to Asia in the next year and a half, but my I-phone will not be able to be unlocked till next winter. I miss my smart phone. ( I use the I-phone now as an American cell when back in the US and this one over here-since one way or another, I would have to pay ATT.)

As an I-Phone aficionado, it was a little hard to make "the switch"-but I find that on the whole I am liking the phone. For one thing-it was cheaper than a new I-phone ( when you included the service contract). Since European phones are sold unlocked-I can use it in my travels which is nice-especially when I go to Israel and back to Asia.

Things I like: The screen is bigger than the I-Phone and the image is just about the same as that of a I-POD with retina screen. I like being able to move files via Windows to the SD card. I like being able to change the SIM card easily. I have figured out how to replicate my apps-so I have most of the ones I used on the I-phone.

I think I-tunes has a better way to present Music-but as for Video-I call it for the Samsung. The other definite advantage of the Samsung is the thinness of the body.

Downside of the Samsung-you have to be careful not to scratch the screen. I bought a case with a flap that covers the screen and is insulated. Problem is-it folds the wrong way, in relation to the buttons that move me through the menus. I am getting used to it however.

Bottom line? I like it as much or more than my I-phone. Sad news for Apple-of which I am a shareholder. I'm still sold on the IPad though.

I survived mine:

Poor John Adams, the poor man never gets his due. Our 2nd President may have saved America more than a couple times from its own worst influences, but he never gets any credit for it. Tea Bag America always would rather misquote his successor than give the man from Quincy any credit.  Might have something to with his calendar being a bit off:

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America..I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

 

Anyway, since I will be celebrating the 4th of July in truly patriotic fashion, by boarding a plane to travel to a foreign country to eat foreign food and spend my hard earned dollars in someone else's currency- I thought I would post this reminder of the things you can still like about America:

 Happy 4th of July!