Let's Meet and Greet

I have a proposal for you contributors: let's all share some of our favorite blogs here. We can introduce them in our posts, and then possibly consider expanding our links section down on the right. I'll start, with two food blogs that I've recently met and enjoy. Here's one for Pops, who's obviously cultivating some teutonic interests lately (teutonic cuisine too, Dad?)-- Gumia. And secondly, I'll introduce the famous (she was interviewed on NPR!) Clothilde, who does Chocolate & Zucchini. Let me know if you like them!

Call for news

I think our blog needs an up-date from the Washingtonians. What's new up there?

Bericht Ueber das Wochenende

My last post, on German terms of endearment, has brought some residual shreds of German back from the depths of consciousness, hence the title. I'm resorting to a fancy title for lack of any frozen toes or other notable illnesses, events, or achievements to relate. Over a quiet weekend, we jointly managed to do some outside clean-up (spring is beginning to make itself felt), watch a DVD ("Dogville" -- a strange film indeed), attack some more of the damaged cabinets with cleaner, walnut stain, and Minwax finish, and listen to several CDs. Among the latter: two by Ray Charles (gifts from ADM), one by Susannah McCorkle (gift from Margaret), and Yo-Yo Ma's "Obrigado Brazil." And then there was Sunday brunch with the usual suspects. If anyone needs a puppy, the Wells have a brood to give away. A stray found shelter under their house and delivered a batch of about a half-dozen black/white mongrels.

We Don't Need Doctors; We Have the Internet

I have to warn you that the content I'm about to share with you isn't pretty. Please close this window if you tend to feel queasy about... feet. I've been spending some Internet time in the past month trying to diagnose the unattractive and painful condition of my toes, see Exhibits A & B below:





and I'd kind of concluded it was just poor circulation. Then this morning I read this. An answer to my queries and straight out of Ch. Dickens--chilblains! Obviously my toes aren't totally purple like this poor girl's; they tend rather to fluctuate between pink-red and red-purple through the day and only at the tips. There's no medical treatment for chilblains, just the recommended wool socks and avoidance of the month of February. Which is happily almost finished.

For friends of the German language

Here's an update on cultural differences:

"Schatz" Germans' favorite term of endearment.

A survey of 4,000 Germans by the Munich-based publishing house PersonalNovel has confirmed that the name most often whispered between loved ones in Germany is "Schatz" (treasure).

Most Germans call their loved ones "Schatz." But beyond "Schatz," Germans tend to choose animal names for their beloved, such as "Hasi" (bunny) and Baerli (little bear).

Americans, on the other hand, liking things sweet, tend to pick names such as "honey," "sugar," and "sweetie."

The survey also yielded many creative terms of endearment from Germans who forgo the standard terms, including Bonsai-Adonis, Nougatprinz (nougat prince), and Krawallbiene (riot bee). "

All this is from the German Information Service newsletter.

Do you think Pres. Bush needs to know this before heading off to Europe this weekend?

Agent E's Pix

I was going to post a comment about the pictures kindly put up by our "Agent E," but the comment system seemed unwilling to work today. So let me say that these are great pix, especially with the sun effects on the cloth. I don't claim to understand Christo, or the people who put up millions for these projects of his, but they do create an impression.

The Astronomy site has a spectacular shot of Mars today.

You Knew It Was Coming!

You all may well have had enough of this orange spectacle by now, but I have to share these pictures. Jean and I did a morning trip to the park on Sunday, around 8 am I think, and look how beautiful February can be when it gets a dose of orange nylon!











That bundled-up nubbin retreating under the billowing orange is me, as you may have guessed.

Valentine (part 2!)

And on a more edible note, lucky me, there was also this delicious bundle from Vosges Chocolat



The Naga, Gianduja, and Red Fire are also included.

Valentine

Look what I received from a special Oklahoma Valentine yesterday!



This was part of a very smart little set that also included two pairs of pliers that are much more than just pliers. Their handles discreetly house a tool box worth of tools, swiss army-style.





If you think you're seeing a bandaid on my finger, you're right! Don't worry though, that's the result of an incident unrelated to these lovely gifts.

Saturn

If anyone has time today, check out the "astronomy picture of the day" at the following site: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

There's a specatcular view of Saturn taken with an infrared camera.

Catching up

I had not checked the site for several days, until last evening, when I found some first-rate blogging indeed! The game commentary was so extraordinary we alerted Charlotte and Erv to it last evening, so they promptly logged on and took a look. I suspect they could be tempted into full membership. Then there were the workspace photos, more info on plumbing, the very curious cemetery scene with the pooch perching on a gravestone, up-dates from several parties, and more. We're on track to become a great blogging family.

He is amazing.

21 points for Grant. Watch Sportscenter tonight, he will be on it!

Carter is on FIRE!

Get the man the ball. Grant just drained his fifth and sixth 3 pointers of the game! Go Black Knights!

18 points for Grant.

Army Navy Basketball, second half

Carter drains his fourth 3-pointer of the game, followed by a Navy timeout. Navy leads now 55-47.

Army Navy Basketball, second half

Carter takes another charge. Army ball, going the other way.

Army Navy Basketball

From Friday's game at American University...

Army Navy Basketball

Another 3 by Mr. Carter!

Army Navy Basketball

Carter draws the charge!

Army Navy Basketball

two straight three-pointers by Carter!

They're No Fools

I've been really pleased to hear that the amarylli are thriving this February. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the forced crocuses! Out of 12 or so planted, five have produced peaky-looking white stumps which, after making their appearance a couple of weeks ago, have shown no signs of further growth or development.

Here we're trying to appease them with a sunbath au naturelle this balmy afternoon.

Cousins

I do not know how many will participate, but I think it would be an excellent idea to bring as many cousins as possible into the blog. Emily, Erica, and Cynthia would almost certainly participate and I think Jacob would as well. Liza would probably post for Charles. I will harass Matthew until he does. Grant is obviously busy, but perhaps Aunt Charlotte could give us updates. Anywho, what does everyone think?

Back to the drawing board for E

This is Emily's last week end at the restaurant. On Monday she starts her new job at OMSI where she'll be working on the actualization of a new exhibit. It's a full time temp job for six months and is during normal business hours, rather than the evenings and week ends schedule she had at the restaurant. OMSI is not far from where she lives; she's looking forward to riding her bike to work!

Long time, no blog

Hello, to the fam. I am sorry that I have not been diligent in my blogging, but you know with the new promotion and all I am busy. I still have clean up from the old position. Alex (for those of you who do not know Alex, he is a Norman boy and was instremental in getting me my job. He has become a good friend and now my boss.) has us making a lot of calls to our donors to attend the spring event with Sen. John Thune. Plus there was a shake up in my group and now we are short handed. I really like my new postition. It is more in line with what I am good at. They assigned me to the West (the Rockies and west) and I am going to be doing some serious recruiting in CA, WA, and CO, perhaps some travelling with star Repub. senators. Nothing really new in the social area, but I am going with Christopher to Grant's game on Friday and Saturday my roomates and I are going to the Wizards (NBA) game. No, I will not throw a beer at a player and provoke a fan/player brawl.

Let me say how happy I am to be able to blog with my Grandmothers. It is great to see you two on. I am really looking forward to a summer trip to PA and especially the lake. I will talk to everybody soon.

PS. Mom and Dad, I just my business cards so I will send one with the photos.

Love,
Johnson

(censored edited by Agent E, for his own good)

Howdy kiddies. I am back. As well as being back to the blog, I am back to school, which essentially means that I am back in the library. Actually, I am rarely not in the library, especially now that I am now working in the library as well. Andrew can attest to this since everytime he calls, I am either studying in the library or working in the library. Regardless, I am delighted to be back in school again and back to the blog.



Hopefully, the semester will be a good one. It seems like a lot more reading work and papers than last semester. Actually, I just knocked out my first paper, this one on the Soviet mistake in the Six Day War. Interesting topic. This is in some way more like the grad school I imagined... few tests, but lots of papers and "big think" projects. Should be fun.

A belated hello to Grandmartha and Grandanne. My apologies for the delayed response, but, as you both have probably guessed, I was in the library. I am delighted that you have joined the family blog, and I love the aliases!

News, or no news, from Westridge

I've been thinking about posting something, but there seems little to report right at the moment. It's very gloomy here; Astrid has been rather unwell and has been reduced to eating rice mixed with broth; we attend "Wabunaki" this evening; Andrew has his phone back and is now reachable once again; Chris sent his syllabi from his courses and they look very very interesting; Erica is embarrassed to have allowed the ring baloney which she took home after Cynthia's party to get moldy in the refrigerator; the cock-fighting issue seems, mercifully, to have faded from the daily press; and so forth.

There's the State of the Union message this evening, which I'm glad I will miss. It's not because I fear the content but because of the incessant applauding after every sentence, which makes the whole affair drag unbelievably. Also well worth missing is the hour or two of spin and blather from all the pundits right after the speech. Now, back to reading John Locke on what one owes to captives taken in war, which turns out to be nothing.