English vs. American.

Episode #201 of Alien Loves Predator is the best demonstration of the differences between the two languages. If you don't think that American is a separate language, this should, hopefully, convince you.

The Yankees are coming.

It's official, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Red Barons are going to replace the Columbus Clippers as the Yankees' AAA team. This is great news since there are far more Yankees fans than Phillies, the team Red Barons were previously affiliated with, fans in our area. There are major changes in store for the stadium where the team currently plays. There is talk of switching from astroturf to natural grass as well as getting rid of the upper decks to increase the demand for tickets. The current team isn't spectacular and neither is the attendance which might, in part, be due to their performance and the Phillies affiliation. All this is going to change. People are going to be coming to the games to see the future Yankees as well as the current ones during their rehab stints. All I can say is: "take me out to the ball game!"

Don't ban smoking.

The city of Philadelphia just passed a ban on smoking in public places. So the heard minded people around here were thinking of doing the same to make the air cleaner. There are a couple of problems with this idea. One is that people will continue smoking in their houses and thereby still polluting the air. Two is that we will still have factories and vehicles belching out such good stuff as carcinogens. And the common denominator of these problems is people. People also cause such problems as drive by shootings and suicide bombings. Therefore, in order to make our public places cleaner and safer don't ban smoking, ban people.

Crusades anyone?

Friday, the Pope pissed off the Muslims with a statement he made about Islam being spread by the use of violence during a speech in Germany. Saturday, he apologized for the huge misunderstanding of his speech. Today, the Somalis killed a Catholic nun. The thing all the protesting Muslims seemed to have forgotten is that Islam was spread by military conquest. And you can't have military conquest without violence. Also, for people who don't want to be perceived as violent they sure do kill a lot of innocent civilians.

Fall.

It seems that Fall has arrived. It has rained for the last two days and when I drove past the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds I saw several tents and stands already set up. The Fair doesn't start until the 23rd but vendors begin arriving well in advance along with the cold weather and rain. Out come the long sleaves and rain jackets, in go shorts and sandals. Even though Summer doesn't officially end until September 22nd, it is only a formality because Fall is here already.

Linguistically speaking.

So, it seems all the people who are trying to make English the official language of this country are wrong. The language is not in any danger from the Spanish speaking immigrants. Funny thing is that the language spoken in the US isn't English. It's American.

Five years later.

When I thought about what I would write today several things came to mind. One was all the programs commemorating today's anniversary. I did not think they were necessary because it is not going to be a day anybody will soon forget. Another one was the current state of things and the recent arrests in England. It seems to me that five years later we aren't any safer. But then my wife said something that changed my view of things. As I was driving her to work, and we were listening to the radio, she said "it's been five years, we weren't even married then." And I started thinking about all the things that happened in my life in the last five years. The attacks on 9/11 made me realize that I did not want to wait to get married. And so my wife and I quickly threw a wedding together in a couple of months and got married on the fourth anniversary of our first date. Also I stopped wandering aimlessly and decided to go to graduate school. Now I am working on my Masters degree. And the best thing is that my wife and I are expecting our first child. My life has changed for the better since 9/11 and that is what I will remember the next time I hear bad news coming out of the Middle East. Because I am moving forward and this is my small victory over terrorism.

Books.

Today, as I was recycling my soda bottles and unread newspapers, it dawned on me that the so-called Western Civilization is slowly fading into oblivion. Here is why, the Bloomsburg recycling center has two bins for books: one for hard cover and one for paperback. Books should not be recycled. Books should be read, reread, and loaned to friends who would forget to return them. Even to this day, the Library of Alexandria destruction is considered the greatest loss of knowledge known to mankind. But, yet we consider recycling books a perfectly mundane occurance. Prior to the invention of the printing press, books took months to copy and were very, very expensive. And now, thanks to Guttenberg, if you want disposable printed word buy newspapers and magazines. Nobody would fault you for recycling those.

Russians and Donuts.

Today I met another, or should I say the other, Russian in Bloomsburg. Her name is Olga and she works at Dunkin Donuts. She's originally from Kazakhstan which is located in Central Asia, bordering Russia and China. She told me she spent 10 years in Germany and came here because of her husband. She would have told me more, but my order was complete and I had to go.

To blog or not to blog.

It is September and I have not yet changed the calendar above my desk. I also have not written anything in a while. In fact, the whole month of August went by without much writing on my part. I read other blogs where people post something every day even if it has no significance at all. Yet I find myself unable to write even the simplest things like: today I have nothing to say. My original goal was to write about the things that I, as an immigrant, find absolutely bizarre. I have always wanted to have a platform for my thoughts and now that I have one I fail to use it. Maybe my location has something to do with my lack of writing. My friend Leather Peguin, who resides in NYC, has no problems coming up with stuff to write about. On the other hand, he never had any problems in that department. I know that daily life has something to do with my inability to write, but I always aspired to become a writer and not writing is a sure way not to achieve my goal. Oh, well...