I was reading a news article about a couple who had a banner made that says “Rednecks for Obama” and have started a campaign to get the traditionally Republican (and stereotypically racist) demographic to vote for Obama.

The Obama bus was passing by in St. Louis and Barack stopped the bus to get out and great them.  I imagine that was quite a thrill for them.
Here is their site: www.rednecks4obama.com

A funny quote from the site:

“We’ve had many democratic presidents, and we will still have our guns”

I’m tempted to get a T-shirt.

A discussion in the office today that is bound to spark a debate on the blog.

I received an email from an ECOR 1010 student who substituted “u” for “you” and various other language abuses.  I had another use “PLZ”.  Now, I will be the first to note that my English skillz are often lacking, but I have resisted the move to the text and instant message iteration of the English language.   I responded to the student’s email and concluded by saying they should use professional language when contacting TAs and professors.

Mittens, myself and another office resident who does not yet have a name were discussing this and there were some interesting points that I am sure have been raised by others before us.  Some feel that I am being old and crotchety by resisting the change from ‘modern’ English to the text message ‘English’.  The point was made that it is more about the act of communicating than the proper use of the tool being used to communicate.  That is how we got to where we are now with the language when compared to Victorian era English.

Are we being elitist when we put down those speaking or writing the ‘new’ English.

Is the same thing occurring in other languages? Mittens says he has experienced some French text messaging lingo.

I don’t own a cell phone, and if I did text message, I am sure I would use more short forms, but I still would resist it carrying over into non-texting communication.

I know I am the last person who should be discussing the English language, but here I am.  For the record, skillz was intentional.

For all of you who have made fun of my eating habits, you should know I am not alone: see article.

I would like to note that I am getting better.  I now eat some eggs, the occasional cooked vegetables and a few other items that I previously did not eat.

I think the title says it all. For those interested, the restaurant is willing to pay three pounds for 14 ounces of milk.
Full story here.

Yet another anecdote from the life of BIC. I was at a party at a friends house and encountered a point in time where it was necessary for me to make a trip back to my house to grab some additional booze for the party. To aid in my trip, a friend offered to lend me her bike. I was adamant that I would not be seen riding a woman’s bike around, and would prefer to walk. Apparently walking speed was not sufficient for the people at the party, so I was faced with the option of running home or riding a woman’s bike. I decided to run.

Now it should be said that I had had a few drinks already, but was by no means drunk when I set out on my running trip back to my apartment. I set out on my journey, running down a street that ended in a t-junction. And these are not paved North American streets. These are narrow European streets paved with bricks and stones. At the end of the street there was some recent road work done and some of the paving stones were loose. I learnt this by tripping over one of them. So there I was, in mid-trip, maintaining enough balance to prevent myself from falling to the ground but not enough to maintain directional control and manoeuvre myself into the necessary turn at the t-intersection. Looking back, I should have just fallen. As trying to maintain my balance meant that I kept moving forward through the t-intersection and right into…a canal that ran parallel to the road I was meant to turn onto.

Saying I ran into the canal makes it sound much more pleasant then it actually was. I happened to “run” into the canal at a relative high point in Delft, so the drop between the street level and the canal water level was a good 6 feet. So it would be more accurately described as a flying belly flop into the canal. So there I was, treading water in the canal which smelled and felt like it was filled with all the raw sewage from the surrounding town, looking up at the 6 foot drop I had just endured, trying to figure out how I would get out. At first I thought I could use my rock climbing skills to scale the wall and get out. Wrong! I simple succeeded in pulling most of my body out of the canal just so I could fall back in and prove to myself that it would not be any more pleasant if I fell in a second time. So I ended up having to swim several blocks up the canal where the distance between the water level and street level were more manageable.

So I was out of the canal, soaking wet. I took a look around a noticed the streets were empty. It was a bit strange, but I was sort of thankful nobody was around to see my embarrassing dip in the canal. So I continued my way home, thinking the whole ordeal was over. Wrong again! Suddenly I realized why the streets were empty. There was some huge marching band event or something going on in the square this particular evening. The whole square was filled with bleachers and walls to prevent the non-paying customers from seeing, but there happened to be a small area where you could see through…which was conveniently located right in front of my apartment. So I had to make my way through a crowd of 100 or so people standing in front of my apartment. Perhaps it is a good thing I dont speak Dutch as I am pretty sure it would have been more traumatizing to hear some of the remarks and theories from the crowd as to why I was sopping wet.

After a quick shower and change, I grabbed the booze and headed back to the party. I hoped that everyone was drunk enough or at the very least not observant enough to realize that I had changed clothes. Wrong yet again. Someone noticed, so I ended up having to tell a few people what happened, which of course then became the talk of the party. On the bright side, I guess I was the centre of attention at the party that night. Just wish it was on better terms.