ginger1981

I have just got off the phone with a snooty French #######. I love it when Europeans think they know more about "the world" than us provincial American rubes as she attempted to explain how the Hong Kong television market works. She got everything wrong and I corrected her (nicely), she condescendingly told me that since HK was part of the "Democratic Republic of China" (sic) it was all the same and controlled out of Beijing. Something in me flipped and I had to smack her down - but what would I know? I'm just a dumb American who only lived and worked there for a year and helped set up a department there. I must learn to defer to my European betters.

I love it when Europeans tell you what it's REALLY like in America when they've only been once or twice and have gleaned much of their info from telly or films, and then proceed to tell you that as an American, you can't really know what it's like in America because you're prejudiced. Riiiiiiiiight.

I love this too. I especially enjoy the lectures on what people in "middle America" are like.

Well you know all we do is eat cows n' corn and go to ho'downs on the weekends! And y'know we have 2 "teef" (teeth) to share around the family. What are dem things called shoes?

fewer than you'd think, actually

mostly it's 'crikey!' and things of that nature

however, I had an experience on the weekend that I've only ever heard about - I thought it was too cliched to ever happen, but I was wrong!

I was standing outside the supermarket waiting for Dave to bring the car over, and a guy started talking to me... I'd only said a few words when he said 'so, you from London?' to which I had to explain that sort of, but no; I'd been living there but am really from Australia (a VERY COMMONLY REQUIRED explanation in my life here )... he then smiled knowingly, nodded, and said 'oh, Australia... Arnold Schwarzenegger, yeah?'

I have to admit I wasn't able to keep myself from laughing... he didn't say much more after that

That's brilliant...straight out of Dumb & Dumber!

My husband and I are in our mid-20's, I graduated from college last year. Though I don't binge drink these days I did spend the first few years of my college in such a state.

I run a lot these days (I do lots of 5/8K's and did a half marathon earlier this year) so drinking isn't terribly compatable with that lifestyle LOL. These days it just isn't worth it waking up with a hangover and either running 10 miles in such a state!

But generally yes, we're in the same boat. First marriage for us both, no kids and we're not really interested in kids at this point in our lives.

I liked the random green-eyed dog

We're waiting until Christmas Day to open our presents from my mum although I can guess what some of them are She is putting money into my UK account though for the most part, as is my gran so when the exchange rate is a bit better then we will move it over or just have a shopping spree when we visit next Looking forward to the cheese though - there is only going to be me Jeremy and his aunt so the evening buffet will be a bit redundant but some of the cheese will be laid out Then Jeremy has work the next day so I will spend all day drinking beer and eating leftovers while playing with my presents... if I have anything that is at least mildly entertaining!!!

On another note, we are having Indian tonight - hoping to sweat this cold out of me. Voice is on and off which is interesting... My cat is aware of my dire need of cuddles and has been very affectionate these past couple of days. Of course, the kitten is being the complete opposite trying to climb into the laundry hamper, attack anything in sight and generally be a PITA

Getting Lamb Vindaloo?

I'm excited for my birthday next week...I won a $100 gift certificate to a very posh hotel that just opened up here a few months back and we're using it to eat in their extremely posh Japanese restaurant. They have Kobe beef on the menu...however it is $18 an ounce (minimum 4 oz) and I don't really feel like using all my gift certificate on one small cut of meat no matter how delicious it is.

####### that didn't post right!

Not sure what cheese it is yet, but guessing cheddar and white stilton/apricot - they are in Christmas paper

As for being out of the fridge - sure, it keeps just fine and it's not exactly hot anywhere right now - I doubt it was sent across in a heated compartment and if it was and looks moldy then we'll just have to cut our losses But cheese is best at room temperature anyway - I am sure it will be fine

Nicky got laid off already? Damn - that sucks I know friends in the UK have lost their jobs as well - seems to be the way things are going... makes you wonder why they spend time and money advertising, hiring and training people only to let them go

I'm not sure why either...I'm guessing that they have it budgeted in the first place for the extra help and when sales/financials come in they freak out and let people go.

I think the cheese should be fine...after all, most artisan cheeses are kept cool but not cold. Some are even kept in semi warm rooms.

I watch too much foodie tv.

I just opened the presents from Nicky's parents...we got his and her Guinness PJ's and tons of chocolates and M&S shortbread. However, my favorite was our rugby jerseys...though Nicky got a Scottish one and I got an Irish ones. Next time those teams have a match we'll make sure to go out to a pub dressed in our respective jerseys.

Anyone need a laugh tonight?

While all y'all were having lovely tapas and sangria, I was enjoying my weekend baking away. I made frosted sugar cookies, chocolate covered peanut butter balls, almond shortbread fingers, holiday M&M cookies, and chocolate covered pretzels. I've ate so many cookies in the past 4 days I've been on a perpetual sugar high.

Yay for Bruce!! , and double yay for him also going on auditions.

The car is in the shop. The heater was leaking. I filled the coolant tank with water and drove to the shop, it was empty by the time I got there. They're going to simply bypass the heater (just the one that sends the hot air in to the car cabin) and so bypass the leak. Hopefully I didn't do any other damage while the car was running hot. It will cost $100 and I gotta go pick it up shortly. I reaalllllly hope the gasket is still there and doing ok.

P.S I hate cars.

$100 isn't bad at all, though that is cold comfort for having to fork out cash that you need for other stuff!

Ginger -- I just wanted to say I LOVE your story! Awesome, pure genius.

My best ideas come to me when I'm intoxicated

oh well diddums to both of you. It's been 4F here today...yes that's right freaking 4F (that's -16C in real numbers)

Now that is what I call shorts weather! Though I don't mind the cold as much as the icy wind of death that screeches across the plains.

Monday night it snowed so much it looks like Frosty crapped all over the city of Chicago. I hate having to wear 30 layers of clothing just walking to the train station. It seems like the hems of my pants can never stay clean. At least it keeps the dry cleaners in business.

I'm afraid i might have influenced the get together in the direction of somber, because I've just found out that my job is in jeopardy. Maybe as early as a month from now, I'll be back on the job hunting trail. Depressing. I'm trying to stay positive, and check in with the people that I've met since I moved here. Trying to stay positive.

p.s. just realised that i typed 'trying to stay positive' twice. See - I'm trying!

Nicky got laid off from his job at Wal-Mart...#######. He's enrolling in school starting January in a CNA course (Certified Nurse Assistant) which hopefully, will get him a job and a decent start until he can either find a better job or go back to school for something else.

I am SO liking the Clay Aiken idea for the Jaguar-themed living room suite. Hmmmm... My embroidery skills are teh suck, but I maybe I can knit Clay antimacassars for each one. And maybe a giant Clay collage for above the mantelpiece!

Are antimacassars seat covers? That would be brilliant....every time you drove your car you could be sitting on Clay's lap! Sensational!

almost everyone I work with is getting sick, grrr. I do not want a cold, here in the mildest winter I have ever experienced. No, no, no. (but I think one's coming on)

Also, who knows about cars around here? My car is making funny noises and it sounds like something is moving around under the bonnet, and I can feel it on the brake pedal. I only feel it when I'm stopped at a red light, it might be doing it the rest of the time, I just don't notice cos it's louder when I'm moving and there's other vibrations going on. Any suggestions?

I wish I could help! If I ever became president I would order schools to give classes in auto maintenance.

I'm trying to decide if Blagojevich reminds me most of the Kennedy nephew who got accused of rape in the early 90s or one of the Menedez brothers

Totally a Menendez. Just thank god Blagojevich doesn't have a twin!

People that I'm close to I will write a longer message. But people that I write cards to out of duty I just sign it.

I do have a funny Blagojevich story. This past St. Patrick's day I was at the big parade downtown. Anyways, all your big politicials show up and march around...for example Mayor Daly (who is probably just as corrupt but leagues smarter than Blagojevich). So I had snuck in a big bottle of Bailey's and was taking swigs of it as the pipes and drums and leprechaun shaped balloons went by...slowly getting more and more wasted as the parade went on.

Then I spotted some guys in the parade walking along the fence in front of me. I then spotted a huge mink like furry critter...and I knew it was Blagojevich marching in the parade. He was walking near the fence and whenever he saw a baby he would come up to the kid and its mom and kiss it.

I kid you not, the guy that wanted to deny funding to the Children's Hospital was kissing babies in true corrupt politician fashion.

Now, every high ranking politician has a cadre of body guards protecting them in situations such as the parade. Most of the time they are clean cut and rather serious looking men. Instead of such All-American types, he had what I would best describe as a "gaggle of goombas" surrounding him. These guys could have been pulled straight from the Sopranos...and I have no doubts that these guys were likely in some way connected to the mob.

So, being quite full of liquid courage at this point I decide to be a complete and utter smartass. As Blagojevich was about ready to kiss the baby directly in front of me, I yelled:

"BLAGOJEVICH, I'M YOUR BIGGEST FAN!!!"

The crowd around me started roaring with laughter...everyone in this state knows that he is a crook and I can't think of one positive thing I've ever heard about him. Basically, he has no fans. The governor looked up at me and shot me the look of death while I pointed and laughed along with the crowd, and he then shuffled off, deflated, with his clutch of cons.

Me, shortly before insulting the govenor of the State of Illinois

So yeah, that is my Blagojevich story!

I like the idea of a venting thread as I have plenty to vent about...especially seeing the guv'nr of our fair state of Illinois is about the most corrupt politician in the history of the US. In a way, it's entirely comical...the guy has been under investigation by the feds for the past 3 years and uses his OWN PHONE to make calls saying how he is selling Obama's Senate seat? And that is just the tip of the iceberg...trying to get the editorial staff of the Chicago Tribune fired since they often write bad press about him...denying a Children's Hospital 8 million in state aide because the director of the hospital wouldn't contribute $50k to his campaign fund...wanting to use Obama to get his wife a job as a lobbyist in DC. The laundry list goes on and on...

Plus, the guy has seriously bad hair. It looks like a mink residing on top of his head.

But in better news Nicky got accepted to one of the Chicago City College's and is taking placement tests today. Hopefully he won't have to contribute to Blagojevich's campaign fund to get into all the classes he wants to get into!

Oh Ginger! I'm so sorry things are going like that for you. It's such a sad thing when people have these kind of sudden hardships thrust upon them, and it must be difficult to see it happen, but you can't feel guilty, you had nothing to do with it. Probably the people that were let go even had little to do with their fate. The current economy is forcing businesses everywhere to let go of perfectly good staff. We can only hope that when the recession finally lifts, the businesses left will be leaner and work better, and we can all have another boom off the back of it.

Maven - I have nothing to say but hear! hear! I read some of the thread when you posted about it first, and just couldn't bring myself to post because there were people in there saying exactly what I would have said, and there were some hard heads in there that just wouldn't read it or take any heed. What's the point? I guess in situations like that you can only PM the person, give your own advice, and invite them over to the UK forum where they would be given the correct advice. It's funny that RJ is such a strong opponent of the 'cliquey' regional sub-forums, because I think that her knowledge of the UK process was so good becuase we do have a stong community here. It would be harder to filter out the specific info about the UK if we didn't have this subforum. sigh.

Thanks pointy. I feel like the Debbie Downer of this thread LOL. Most people who were let go were expecting it to some degree, but I think the shock still gets a hold of you. It's really quite an awful downward spiral and I hope our government will do something. I feel like the $700 billion bailout just dissapeared...like how does money just dissapear? It has to go somewhere!

It's been funeral day around here. I somehow still have a job (for now) but many many friends were let go today. It's going to be a very sad Christmas for a lot of my collegues.

I've heard my grandpa and others speak of how they had a certain amount of guilt that they survived while their buddies didn't. I know this sounds cheesy, but in a much less significant way I feel like they do. I don't have kids, or a house or anything of value really and I somehow made it. I know that I was probably smarter than some that I took the opportunity to learn how to do various things and to be counted on by the executives and even help out the (former) CEO. But I was still really really lucky.

Anyways, is it just me or does it not feel much like Christmas this year?

The guilt is the cross that I must bear.

Will Christmas be dinner or just drinks? Although I LOVE the food here, I am looking forwarded to going out for a Western when I get back.

Oh I forgot to say - I found an alarm clock here with a target for a face that comes with a pistol. When the alarm goes off you turn it off by shooting it with your pistol. I have a feeling I will be purchasing this before I leave.

What a brilliant alarm clock! It's safer than using a real gun to shoot it haha!

Dangit Seurat didn't want to upload on my original post

Ginger - I can totally relate... it was worse studying it in uni because you have to meet criteria, deadlines, time frames... fit in with tutors' ideals as to what is "art" and the pressure really sends your muse running I love painting but frustrate myself trying to make the things look like photographs then get disappointed when they don't... My best painting (in my head) was a small one of the Musee D'Orsay (sp?) in Paris on the banks of the Rhine by night - thing is, it was for my A-level and it was a lettering piece so I had to stick some crappy text on top of it which I took about three seconds over - the painting took a couple of months I think But the text ruins it

I moved onto installation art in my degree because it allowed more room for interpretation... thing is all our tutors were ceramicists or painters so I don't think they really "got" me

On another note, I am having a blub to Band Aid's "Do they know it's Christmas" particularly at the lyrics "but there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime" and thinking "THERE WON'T BE BLOODY SNOW IN PALM SPRINGS EITHER!!!" Then feeling a bit sad and pathetic... I've been looking up old carols I sang in primary school and getting all nostalgic... I think I need to invest in a Christmas Carol CD or something

I did ceramic and I have some very nice pots and mugs to show for it lol. I just have an idea right now that involves a very large canvas, a paintball gun and some paintballs. I would consider my idea more in the realm of conceptual art than anything else. Maybe Jackson Pollock with fire power.

Are you talking of the Van Gogh Starry Night over the Rhône? I saw that at the D'Orsay a few years ago...I believe the famous one in the starry night series is at the MOMA.

Speaking of which, Nicky and I are heading down to the Art Institute today. You may remember it from Ferris Beuller's Day Off, as they have the famous Seurat painting there:

The nice thing is the Chicago Public Libraries let you check out museum passes so you can get into most of the major Chicago museums for free. Now that the weather is crappy I think we're going to be spending more time inside the museums.

I agree Pointy that it is way better to be a starving unemployed artist than to be a starving unemployed executive assistant. It sounds more glamorous :-p

On another note, I am having a blub to Band Aid's "Do they know it's Christmas" particularly at the lyrics "but there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime" and thinking "THERE WON'T BE BLOODY SNOW IN PALM SPRINGS EITHER!!!" Then feeling a bit sad and pathetic... I've been looking up old carols I sang in primary school and getting all nostalgic... I think I need to invest in a Christmas Carol CD or something

Yeah, but when is there ever snow in England at Christmas? England generally does not get good snow, which aside from at Christmas is very overrated.

I'm telling you Jer - get yerself to Idylwild (sp?). The snow there is lovely. And the best part is you can drive away from it back to warm weather in no time.

Where are you ladies on the facebook? I tried searching for maven, but she is unfindable. I don't think I know the rest of yis names to go looking for you.

And greetings from Tokyo! I am staying at the Park Hyatt, which is probably the most beautiful hotel I have ever stayed at with absolutely impeccable service. But now that the yen is really strong - whoa is Tokyo expensive. Good thing I'm not paying for it.

Ooo Tokyo!!! Are you going to do any shopping in Ginza?

I'm thinking the next news story we hear about this will be something like,

"Kosovo man from Maryland attempts to steal 2700 year old weed.

He may have gotten away with it, but instead of leaving after the theft,

the man decided to have a smoke and start chatting on an internet forum".

I wonder if the bud could get grandfathered in? It was grown and cut before it became illegal.

I'm also wondering if fermantation helps the THC become stronger...or if it just tastes like #######.

Aly, maybe you should look into producing Clay Aiken pins!

Wow...what did your gig from last month tell you as to why they haven't paid you yet?

I think if my job ends up being dust in the wind next week I might become an artist. Last night I told Nicky about some of the ideas I had. I love art, but the way I am I'm so meticulous that I frustrate myself.

Then again, is there ever such thing as a content artist?

Hello and greetings everyone...it feels like it has been a while since I've been on here. I get that way with websites for some reason...I take a couple week break and I'm back. But I did miss everyone here.

Nothing much going on...big layoffs next Monday, so at the moment I'm crossing my fingers hoping I'll stay employed.

However, if there is a silver lining to the cloud, it would be the Clay Aiken Pin Extravaganza. In the dark moments where I was scared for my future, this application helped take my mind off of things by harrassing everyone I know into adding the Clay Aiken Pin Extravaganza to their facebook.

It was interesting going back and reading some of the parental experiences here...it's amazing how very few people have "normal" families. I think mine is just plain bizzarre...basically, my grandparents raised me while my mom was following bands around (she used to date one of the sax players from Huey Lewis and the News...and no I'm not making that up). My mom got married to my step dad (whom I call dad) when I was 6...and all of a sudden I moved in with people who I didn't really know that well. It made for interesting times and interesting situations.

For a while I wondered if my paternity was due in part to the guy who sang "The Heart of Rock n' Roll." (which, after some research I can attest that Huey Lewis is NOT my father).

We saw a bear in Yosemite! Naturally I was so excited I was shaking and the thing turned out blurry - you kind of can see him though

For a second I thought it was Sasquatch!

I placed a rather large order on www.britsuperstore.com on Saturday. They shipped it Monday & I received it today in California.

Very impressive!!

Now I have 20 packets of Mr. Porky , plus some Frazzles, Bisto & Nik Naks.

And my Mom has 20 packets of cheese crispies, M&S Shortbread, orange & whisky marmalade and strawberry & champagne conserves.

Mmmm....M&S Shortbread. Hopefully we will be getting a box of those soon!

I'm having the thanksgiving for misfit people. Basically, it is everyone who can't go home or has no other place to go on Thanksgiving. So my roster (including my husband and myself) includes:

3 Brits

1 Canadian

1 Nebraskan

1 Tennessean

1 Ohioan

1 Downstater (downstate Illinois that is)

I'm making the turkey (I'm brining it the night before), stuffing and mashed potatos along with a pecan pumpkin pie. My friends are bringing various sides and booze.

We haven't planned for Christmas really to be honest. I was thinking of roasting up Cornish hens. I do believe at the moment it will be just Nicky and I celebrating together...but basically we're cancelling it for the most part. With both our job security wobbly for the next year we're not exchanging gifts amongst ourselves or with our friends and family.

Oh, Nicky started his job yesterday at Wal-Mart. To give you an idea of how ####### the economy is....he said the first thing they said at orientation was "this is the first year we've been able to be picky about who we hire." Basically, most of the people there had bachelor's degrees and had all lost their jobs at other places. He said they all stated that Wal Mart was the only place they could get a job at. Some of them were even business owners whose businesses had gone under in this economy.

Glad to hear it worked out, it would have really sucked to have to pay for people that didn't show up.

TBH i didn't really see anything too crazy on my few days at AFV as they like to call it. One video though I did fell pretty queasy about, it was a little girl, totally naked, she was maybe 4 or 5, and she had scribbled all over herself with a marker. Weird. What kind of parents just tape that, and then think to themselves - I know!! I'll send this to ABC so it can be put on National TV!! I don't know if they were going to blur out the little girls bits or just cut around them (she kept bending down to write on herself some more) but I thought it was really odd.

It may seem cute, but as a parent...seriously did they not think of the pervs out there?

I suppose you had plenty of videos of men getting hit in the balls with various objects, right?

Thought I'd give a shout out for Newcastle. Fairly cheap compared to the rest of the country. Good base to explore beautiful Northumberland.

Hey guys Thursday is my first day at my new job. Friday, yesterday and today I spent putting videos in to the edit bays for America's funniest Home Videos. I'm very tired of watching kids and pets doing dumb things.

How's the decisionmaking coming Robin?

I was watching a Bob Saget comedy special on HBO and he said that people would send in porn quite often to AFHV. He also said they got some really bizarre ones. Apparently someone sent in a video of a guy wearing SCUBA gear climbing a ladder by his pool (assuming he was going to jump off the ladder into the pool). The guy was waving and yelling "Hey Bob!" when the guy fell off the ladder. Apparently the next 20 minutes of the video was just of the guy laying there...either conked out or dead, Bob Saget really wasn't sure.

Decision making was completed last night - my present employer made me an offer I simply could not refuse. Huge promotion and raise. AS much I was interested in the BBC offer, I couldn't help but shake that it would have been a sideways move and that I would have to spend the next year or so building the relationships and good will in order to progress forward - basically to get what current employer is offering right now would be at least a few years down the line. I never expected this to happen so quickly.

It seems so odd, to have such choices in this economy. I suppose it's karmic payback for all my career woes back in the 90s economic boom.

I think that is one of the awesomest dilemma's I've ever heard of. Congradulations!

Ginger, have you had the meet up yet? how'd it go?

The meet up went well...everyone that showed up was super nice and we had lots of pizza to go around!

I've been completely boring lately except for a celebrity spotting this weekend. I was running along the lakeshore in Evanston (which is the suburb immediately to the north of Chicago...home of Northwestern University) with a friend of mine. Since it was pretty cold and windy there weren't very many people out and about. So we're going along and we come upon a guy, a woman, and a youngish woman pushing a baby stroller. As we're passing by them I look over at the guy and I think to myself...jeez he looks familiar. And then I'm like...jeez he looks just like Jerry Springer. My friend looks over at me and is like "Holy #######, it's Jerry Springer."

I had my camera phone with me and I wish I would have taken a pic but he was obviously spending time with his family and I would have felt bad bothering him. I found out later that night that his daughter lives in Evanston so he was probably up there visiting her.

Eh, I'm just trying to get enough people to come to the VJ meetup in Chicago. I had to submit my reservations and since at the time the party was of larger number I had to book it as a package deal and put down a deposit. In the mean time I've had a slew of cancellations...I understand stuff comes up so I'm not really mad at anyone, but I'm just really scared right now I won't be able to cover all the costs and will be stuck with a large bill. I've spent my time pleading around to try to find enough people to show up!

http://omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10481441

Obama wins electoral vote in Nebraska

BY ROBYNN TYSVER

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Democrat Barack Obama won the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District on Friday, scooping up one of the state's five electoral votes.

In the process, he made history and shone the spotlight on Nebraska's unusual electoral college system.

Obama won 8,434 of 15,039 mail-in ballots counted Friday by Douglas County election officials. These early ballots arrived in the election commissioner's office too late to be included in Tuesday's election results.

The additional votes gave Obama a 1,260-vote lead over Republican John McCain in unofficial returns. McCain won the popular vote statewide and four electoral votes.

About 5,000 provisional ballots in Douglas County remain to be counted next week, but they are unlikely to change the 2nd District outcome. About half of such ballots typically are disqualified.

"We always knew we could do it, but it would be an uphill climb. It's great to see a little corner of Nebraska turn blue," said John Berge, state director for the Obama campaign.

Berge said the victory was a tribute to all the work done by staffers and the hundreds of Obama volunteers who manned telephones and walked neighborhoods in the Omaha metropolitan area.

Republican Hal Daub, McCain's state director, congratulated Obama on his win. He praised the candidate for coming to Omaha in February, saying it made for a "fun election."

The Nebraska results give Obama his 365th electoral vote. McCain's tally stands at 162. Only Missouri's 11 electoral votes remain undecided.

Obama's win will assuredly spark interest in the split electoral system, which only Nebraska and Maine use. All other states are winner-take-all on electoral votes.

It was the first time since 1964 that Nebraska has awarded an electoral vote to a Democrat. The state has been reliably Republican since it voted for Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson that year.

Obama ignored Nebraska's history this year, sending 16 paid staffers into the 2nd District and opening three offices in Omaha.

A 1991 state law allowed Obama to concentrate his efforts on the Omaha area, where Democrats outnumber Republicans.

Nebraska is the first state in the modern era to have a split electoral decision.

Nebraska and Maine are not, however, the first states to try a split-electoral system, said Randy Adkins, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Several states flirted with similar systems in the early 1800s, including Kentucky, Maryland and North Carolina.

One of the last to use it was Michigan, which split its electoral votes in the 1892 presidential election between Benjamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland.

States began abandoning the split system in the late 19th century. Political parties, especially those dominating in particular states, led the effort for a winner-take-all system.

"It's political greed," said George Edwards, chairman of presidential studies at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service and editor of Presidential Studies Quarterly. "The dominant political parties want all of the votes."

He hopes that Obama's win in Nebraska will spark national interest in the split system, which he said does a better job of representing the will of the people. "I think it would be very healthy if this sparked some discussion . . . and I suspect that it will," he said.

you did ad Kamal and i back on the list right?

I did....