Nov
30

Dumb Moment

We have all had dumb moments, I have plenty of clumsy moments, definitely got that gene from one of my aunts. Martial Arts did help my reflexes quite a bit, but overall if a glass is sitting too close to the edge it is only a matter of time before it goes down. Heck just Friday I spilled about half of my chili on my lap when I was over at Spyder’s but I managed to get it only on my pants and not spill it all over the couch.

I have been taking the CSV off brand of Ariborne which is basically a vitamin C table that also has other stuff to help boost your immune system. I am trying not to get sick before or after my next surgery which should be happening some time in December if all goes well.

I have taken alka-seltzer all my life, it works and it does not taste horrible to me. It does not taste good either, but it helps with everything for hangovers to bad tacos or too many good tacos for that matter. So I can say that I have experience with effervescent medicine.

I have been taking this airbone thing at my Mom’s request for a little bit over a week and it does seem to work well. No problems so far, but then this week I had a dumb moment.

I was walking around our place picking up stuff and turning lights off before going upstairs. I poured a glass of water and dropped the tablet. Went to the living room and did a couple of things then came right back to the kitchen. Here was my mistake.

All the other times I had watched the airborn do its thing, I recognize the color of the water and saw it dissolve. There is always a little left but nothing that cannot be dealt with… but living it alone was a bad idea.

I came back and saw what to me looked like all liquid dissolved airborne. I did not see that in the bottom almost the full table had not dissipated completely. Mind you this thing is about the size of a quarter. So I chug this thing full force, and when i realized that it was still almost intact it was too late, it had already lodged on my throat.

I tried though about spitting it back out, and that is what I should have done. The force of the liquid would have surely dislodged it and I would just have spit it back out… so here my dumb moment continues. I think well, give it more water it will dissolve.

Now it starting to hurt, and even though I am not choking or panicking yet I am getting close to it.

Glass full of water and no change on it, just discomfort, so what do I do… more water… and then some more. Thankfully by the third glass full of water it dissolved enough to go down my throat and it did not hurt, but yea… I am feeling pretty dumb right about now. I did not even tell Bea about it, I am sure I will hear about it as soon as she reads this.

So lets hear them, or rather read them, share one of your dumb moments with us!

Nov
26

Who would get offended?

I get the whole Christmas thing and how non Christians might be somewhat uncomfortable celebrating the whole Jesus was born day… wait, have any of the atheist I have ever known not taken that day off? hrm…

So sure, we say happy holidays now (I say Happy Christmas because of Harry Potter) to be politically correct, but why can’t we say happy thanksgiving. I have been told 3 times today, Happy Holiday… and I am like, what? Happy Thanksgiving! its a Harvest Holiday… everyone eats… everyone should celebrate that without being offended.

What is it, turkey haters, PETA activists? they would be offended by being lumped together with the meat eaters of the world? They would be offended that there is a holiday to give thanks for the things we have?

I don’t get it… I will call it turkey day, because turkey is tasty! and well also because I think it is good to count our blessings and give thanks!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Nov
25

Personal Space

Yesterday after lunch at Pepper Jack Grill in Oletha, the phillies made us all a little gassy. I am personally not a fan of belching in public, but never though it was solely a cultural thing. During college one of my friends took great pride on burping in public at any opportunity and embarrassed all of us while we were at dinner in some of the restaurants we frequented. A burp is at times not something that you can control, but you can certainly control some of the volume if you chose to. Back in Colombia, one of my school mates could say the whole alphabet and is still the loudest person I have ever heard. I went to the wikipedia to see if they had anything on the etiquette and this is what they said:

In many parts of the world, audible burping is not much appreciated and is therefore considered to be somewhat impolite (although generally not as much as flatulence). However, in other areas it can be considered a sign of completion of a meal or a form of applause for the cook. Sometimes, children and teenagers engage in burping contests to determine who can produce the loudest burp, the longest burp, the most guttural burp, the burping of words, songs, or even the alphabet.

After a couple of loud belches on the drive back, and walking into work, I said something. I am personally not offended by it, but one of the worse smells other than a fart is smelling someone else’s burp. That is just something I don’t enjoy. Corey then mentioned how he has noticed that most foreigners are uncomfortable with public belching and I agreed. I added that I find it somewhat rude, but I think it is mostly because of the embarrassment I felt when my friend in college will do it next to a family having dinner. However, it is no worse than when an f-bomb falls out while in a restaurant without realizing there are kinds in the table next to you. (which I have done in the past)

Personal space is one of the most complicated things I have to deal with. Even though I grew up overseas, I have also adopted some of the personal space rules from here in the US. I have a weird mixture of rules about it that can make things fun sometimes.

Last night we went out to watch Monday Night Football, and also got to catch some of the KU basketball game. The manager came over to check on our table and motion to put his hand on the back of one of my friends, but then hesitated. I could not let the opportunity pass to give him a hard time so I said, don’t touch him. We had fun harassing the manager the rest of the night and it was all fun, but it got me thinking about personal space.

When it comes to my friends, my personal space goes back the level it is acceptable in Colombia. I am actually ok with my friends hugging me and sitting next to me at a movie theater. However, the same does not apply for strangers. It irritates when someone that I does not know me comes and pats me on the back. But I do know it is a mixture of what its ok in Colombia, where we are a lot more “touchy feely” and the more conservative US way.

In conclusion, it is totally ok to hug me if you are a friend, just don’t burp or fart while doing it.

Nov
24

Need a date?

I love being part of this organization!

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VIP Tables also available.
After Party will be held at Mosaic. First come, first serve.

Click here to check out the Singles being auctioned off and their amazing date packages.

Nov
21

Twilight (**)

buy at Amazon.com

Before anyone wants to take my man card away I want to say that, one I am back to about 100% so I can probably hurt ya, and two, next Monday we are going to go drink beer and see football. Yesterday I got tickets for the midnight showing of twilight for Bea and I go see it. While I was being nursed back to health Bea gave me the first book in the series to read and I was hooked.

Simple writing, compelling story, almost comic book like action got me hooked. I ended up reading all of the books in probably a weeks time. The characters all have some flaw that even when they are immortals make them very human.

But I guess everyone wants to hear about the movie… and I am going to have to be a harsh critic. As a standalone movie, it fails. To fully appreciate the plot and understand the characters behavior you have to read the book first.

A movie goer will be dissapointed by a movie that will feel very slow in some parts and then too fast in others without any transition.

That said, the movie was cast flawlesly. The actors do an excellent job at delivering lines that everyone that has read the book was waiting to hear. There was attention to detail and many of the locations looked very close to what I had imagined them. However it did not have the wow effect that the Harry Potter universe did when the first movie came out.

Bella, played by Kristen Stewar was amazing. She played a very complex character who has the least amount of good lines since most of the book happens through her narration. She comes off likeable without being cheesy, a real person rather than the cartoon most trouble teenagers seem to look like in todays movies. She is a great actress because even though you have seen her in plenty of movies, each character stands on its own. She was in Zathura, Jumper and Panic Room.

Edward played by Robert Pattison who you probably first saw in Harry Potter playing Cedric Diggory plays the perfect vampire from the books lore. He has the best dialogue which he used to stop the hearts of every girl in that theater. I was amazed that there was actually no screaming during the movie, kuddos to all the tweens.

Taylor Lautner played a good Jacob, but his role does not really develop until later on the books. I hope this kid goes through a huge growth spur and can play the rest of the movies which I am pretty sure they are going to make.

The special effects in the movie worked quite well. Visually it did its job. The biggest misstep was the music. Even though the score was not bad, there were plenty of opportunities missed to use excellent songs. I think it would have made the slow not drag so much.

I give the movie two stars because the source material is some of the best I have ever read. Once you read the book, see the movie, it will be very entertaining. If you have not read the book, then be ready to feel like you are missing tons of stuff when you watch it.

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