What's In The Daily News

I'll tell you what's in the daily news.....

$5 for anyone that knows what that's from without Googling it. Do you drop the "e" in Google when you make it into a verb since it is a "Proper Verb"? Deep subjects today.

So what is in today's news? Clinton leaves North Korea with two journalists... interesting, but not necessarily what I'm interested in. I do enjoy seeing Slick Willy in the news though. Mainly because he makes all the Republicans out there shudder.

What else - Ahmadinejad sworn in. Iran is interesting read but hopefully never really a threat. Only time will tell. It is good to see Iranians taking to the streets to have their voice heard!

Pussycat Cabaret club in Zumbro Falls is reopening..... interesting....

Paula Abdul won't rejoin Idol.... Typhoon on its way to Taipei on Frid..... WHA!?!??!?!?! The ditzy-non-relevant-line-memorizing-has-been Paula Abdul won't come back to American Idol next season? Who's going to annoy audiences with her comments that don't make sense, or never make a "tough" decision, or fight with Simon which got old in Season 2? Who's going to spark rumors with her affairs with past contestants? Who's going to comment about how good or bad the dancing was in a Singing Competition? Who's going to stand up and clap every time she likes a contestant yet still tell a contestant they "look great" when they sucked it up? To all this I say: Paula - Good Riddance. No, I am not a huge fan of Kara either, but at least she is an improvement in proper skill to be a judge of a 2009 Singing Competition. I'm sure the show will "be different" but I guarantee that it will still dominate the ratings as it always does.

As for what's next for Paula? What else can she do? American Idol really made HER a household name, so I'm surprised she's leaving the show. If she's holding out for more money - HA. Don't think there are any other opportunities for her that could pay as well (and honestly be as easy to do) as AI. Maybe a book deal. I've said it before, life is all about finding your 15 seconds of fame then immediately doing the book deal. I'm actually serious about that. It'll be interesting to see what the details come out of it all though.

As for the Typhoon - yeah... this one looks to be going straight over Taipei too! We'll see what actually happens. If we have a Typhoon Day on Friday, I already have plans to go out and get it on camera!!!

Meredith is feeling better but still far from over. Thanks for the continued prayers!

Notes and Neurons

First off, prayers and get well wishes to my FSIL Meredith who's still trying to fight off this illness. She's back in good hands of smart doctors and hopefully she can get back to normal VERY SOON!

I found something that amazed me - it's musically related, but I think everyone will appreciate how human nature music can be. Of course it takes someone very gifted such as Bobby McFerrin to point out how we as humans can quickly pick up a concept such as the pentatonic scale. A simple example of the pentatonic scale is the black keys on a piano. They split (unevenly split) the octave into 5 notes, and only the notes that really matter. Ancient civilizations built their music on the pentatonic scale. It wasn't till the human race evolved in mid-evil times that we got the 8 note scale most commonly used and taught today. What I love is how he harmonizes with the crowd while he's jumping around on the stage. I'm trying to find a full copy of the lecture but so far I'm unsuccessful.



It's pretty impressive to me for some reason. I will have to look into that some more.

No Earthquakes Today

Another scorching hot weekend in Taipei - just when you think it can't get any hotter, it does. August is here which means sub-85 degrees at night is only 2 months away! I'll be home before we get to that point. That's right, the packing has begun to ship stuff home. I already have the Wii packed away along with my unread books. I do have a lot of things I'm giving away too since they're not worth shipping home. Toaster, glasses, ironing board, etc - things I had to get to get by that weren't part of the furnishings.

I was invited to Danshui yesterday by Alisa and her extended family. I was the only one there not Russian or married to a Russian. The three nieces of Alisa were super fun to be around. We hit up the Mexican restaurant that I've heard lots about from others and it lived up to the hype for my Taiwan standards of Mexican food. I had the burrito that was far from Chipotle, but it got the job done. I posted some pictures from the evening up north - we just missed sunset, but you'll see where the river that runs through Taipei, connects to the Taiwan Straight.... if you keep going straight, you'll eventually hit Shanghai area or so. You're looking North West for the most part. It's a beautiful area with a nice breeze in the evening that keeps us cool. Wish we had that breeze in Taipei!

You'll see a bunch of pictures from the Turkish Ice Cream guy. He's kind of an odd ball, but he's pretty popular. The icecream itself is ok, really sticky ice cream, but the show he puts on is the reason to go. He plays with the buyer and spins the icecream or pulls it out just when you think you have a grasp of the cone. I sent Zack up there to get 2 of them so I could take pictures. Let everyone laugh at him so I can get it on film!

I'm down to 4 weeks before I come home. Pretty amazing isn't it? I'm excited to do some tailgating and reserving my spot on the couch every Sunday afternoon for NASCAR/NFL watching. I have to train Sarah how to watch that on Sundays. I'm also excited to be able to communicate with people in a normal fashion. Getting tired of relying only on my computer for all my communication needs.