Archive for November, 2009

Oh-Bama

The honeymoon is well and truly over. Eleven months into Obama’s presidency it seems as if the American people may have lost faith in their Messiah. His approval rating has dropped below 50% and shows little signs of improving. So what’s the most powerful and influential man on the planet supposed to do?
I have a little anecdote that might help Mr. President turn things around or at the very least put some perspective on the whole matter at hand.
In 1980 when I was about to start secondary school in the UK, or high school to my American friends, I was dead set on going to Fairfield Grammar. It was close to my house and all my primary school friends were going there. To my utter disdain, my Mum decided that Cotham Grammar, a school that was located further away and where I would know absolutely no one would be a better choice. You see, she knew that Cotham was a “better” school and more strict. I only cared that I would be in a place that was familiar to me. I couldn’t give a toss that this school might put me on a better educational path.
I cried and begged and sulked and stamped my feet but she would not budge on the matter. I thought that she was cruel and heartless. A few months after starting at Cotham she came up to me one day and admitted that she empathized with my trauma and had wrestled with making the decision with her head and not her heart.
This stuck with me and made me realize that sometimes you have to overrule your heart based on what you believe will make a better future.
In my view President Obama has made several decisions solely with his “head” early in his presidency and I don’t fault him for that. I just believe that in making those decisions he might take the time out to really explain to the American people that we all have to sacrifice and make tough choices. These might not seem at all appealing now but will be the building blocks for a stable future.
If he can make Americans feel like my Mum made me feel once she opened up and explained her thoughts, then he will be well on the way to boosting confidence in his ability to lead and in his decision-making processes.

To Buy a New Car or not to Buy a New Car

I am facing the ultimate Green Bionic’s dilemma. Here’s another little anecdote. Earlier this week my car failed it’s emissions inspection and in my State this means that I cannot renew my registration. It has to pass!

However it seems as if the cost to repair my little beauty will be prohibitive. You see, my car is nigh on twelve years old and has nearly 200k miles on it. She still drives well and has no other real problems besides this emission difficulty. I mean we all have difficulties in life, don’t we? Does that mean we should just get thrown onto the scrap heap and forgotten?

So here’s my conundrum, I don’t want to buy a new car. Firstly I don’t want a car loan and end up being bogged down with car payments every month. Secondly, I love my car. I want to keep it forever if at all possible. And thirdly, I hardly drive my car so the emissions problem, although terrible, is minimal based on the amount of miles I drive in a year – less than three thousand.

I desperately want my car to be free from this poor emissions situation, however it is going to cost an arm and a leg to fix, shouldn’t I just move on and find a new tempter? It’s a funny one because you just wouldn’t believe that an environmentally aware person like me would even wrestle with such a decision. It’s usually what’s best for our earth that should be paramount. Of course that is at the crux of the matter and will ultimately end up being the prevailing factor. That doesn’t mean that I can’t feel slight miffed about having to make such a harrowing decision…what to do?

Thor’s Day December 3

Have an anecdote that you would like to add to our site? Make a comment on one of the many blog posts here and we’ll be happy to post your funny anecdote or serious post on the site.

1621 – Galileo invents the telescope.

1931 – Alka Seltzer’s first day in the market.

1968 – “This is How We Do It” singer-song writer, Montell Jordan is born. Believe it or not he’s still kickin’ out albums with a release named Let it Rain in 2008.

1992 – The first International Day of Disabled Persons is an international observance promoted by the United Nations. It has changed its name to the “International Day of Persons with Disabilities”

2009 – Born in 1948, Ozzy Osbourne turns 61 years old. Happy Birthday! Ozzy you rock! Like Thor, Ozzy is truly a God of Thunderous Rock n’ Roll.

It’s Raining Meteors

The morning of November 17th 2009 was the peak of a meteor shower called “The Leonids”. My other half and I are avid meteor watchers and he is a bit of a specialist.
Meteorblog.com is one of our sites and has a lot of information about meteor showers.

One interesting fact I have learnt is that the word “meteor” doesn’t actually refer to the object, but rather the event. In the same way that scoring a goal in football (soccer) or hitting a homerun in American baseball, where the words “goal” and “homerun” refer to sequence of actions required to score the goal or hit the homerun.

So the word meteor would entail the entire path of the meteoroid entering our atmosphere from outer space. The word meteoroid refers to the particle itself.

The best time to see meteors is in the pre-dawn hours before the peak. So this week’s anecdote starts on a rather chilly Tuesday morning. We trundled off on our bikes looking for somewhere dark enough to get a good view of the show. We found a little spot and waited with baited breath. After a few minutes we saw the first of several that would grace our presence that morning. They tumbled out of the sky like falling stars, hurtling to certain death. It was magnificent.

The next show to be put on by our space friends will be this December and I can’t wait for the curtain to go up.

Turkey

The word “turkey” has more than one meaning on American English. It can mean an actual bird, i.e. the turkey. An alternative meaning is that of a person who is bit absent-minded and silly but in mildly offensive way and dates back to the fifties – remember “Happy Days”? You can just hear The Fonz calling some poor unsuspecting bloke a “turkey”.

However today’s “Word of the Week” portrays the more traditional and completely benign use of the word. This lowly bird is a focal point of the well-known American celebration called Thanksgiving. Next Thursday will be Thanksgiving Day and believe me it is a day-off to put in some serious eating.

This “holiday” dates back to the mid-19th Century and was originally celebrated to thank God and the Native Americans for helping the pilgrims to survive the harsh winter. Since then it has become more of a secular holiday and in 1941 it became a federal holiday.

Turkey is the prime meat at these family gatherings, however the original pilgrims used any fowl at the early celebrations. As a Brit and a vegetarian, I hadn’t ever celebrated this truly American holiday. However after living here for such a long time, I recently acquiesced and had a small little do last year and it went quite well – tofurky and all!

It’s not such a bad celebration and the fact that we can dedicate a day to giving thanks for all the good things in our lives, has got to do someone some good somewhere!

So to all my fellow Americans, eat up and be merry and remember as we moan about the weather or our jobs or our partners, that there’s always someone out there worse off than you.

Amen to that!

Thor’s Day November 26

Thanksgiving is always celebrated on the last Thursday of November and what better way to celebrate Thor’s Day than with a little feast and an anecdote from etaBlog.com If you’ve enjoyed some of our articles please make a comment or two.  Your feedback on our anecdotes is always welcome!  Here are a few things that happened on this day in history:

1789 – Thanksgiving is recommended by George Washington and observed by the United States. It didn’t become a national recognized holiday until almost 150 years later in 1941.

1939 – Tina Turner was born.

1942 – The film Casablanca premiers in New York City.

1968 – British rockers, Cream has a farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

2003 – The supersonic airliner, the Concorde, makes its final flight over Bristol, England.

2009 – the Moon on 26th November will be a waxing gibbous phase with 67% of the Moon’s visible disk illuminated.