Saturday, December 23, 2006

In which I can't stop watching the Daily Show...

I continue to find this lovely clip profoundly cathartic...

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

In which I go on hiatus...

Sorry folks, I'm going dark for a couple of weeks. I'm home for the holidays, and some other serious stuff's come up very quickly, so I won't have much opportunity to blog. You'll hear from me (at the latest) when I go back to Thailand in three weeks.

Happy Holidays!

Sunday, December 10, 2006

In which I offer a Thailand fun fact...

Thailand is sufficiently enamoured of tourists that the government actually throws festivals to commemorate their arrival. I'm not kidding: right now, the market district of Chiang Mai is in the throes of "Chiang Mai Mardi Gras: Celebrating the Start of the Tourist Season".

This is a very unusual country.

In other news, after a night spent in a hotel room whose comfort level and price displayed no correlation whatsoever to each other (take that as you will), I made it back into my apartment Wednesday morning. I'm astonished that an apartment complex that houses closes to a thousand people has no way of accomodating someone who lost their keys after 6:30 PM. Between that and the decrepit internet access, I'm looking for a snazzier place to live.

Meanwhile, I'm thoroughly occupied this week, teaching a 1-week course into which I am apparently to condense a comprehensive education on Economics, Globalization, and Natural Resources. Ummm... the odds ain't good. But it will at the very least wreak havoc on my blogging schedule. Moreover, I'll be well and truly too busy to notice the passage of the final days before my Christmas vacation. Ye gods, I'm excited to visit home.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

In which I confess some foolishness...

Tonight you were supposed to get a bonanza post about the King of Thailand's birthday, as well as my attempts to suss out how the odd Thai calendar works.

Yet I, in my infinite wisdom, have locked myself out of my apartment, and will be spending my evening dealing with that instead. I've exiled myself from my phone, my computer, and the key to my bike lock, hobbling myself rather effectively. I can't remembered the last time I so profoundly inconvenienced myself with so little effort... I'm actually a little proud of myself. Thank Vishnu for the glory of internet cafes.

So instead of learning about the grand festival of idolatry known as the King's Birthday, you'll ponder the transpirings of the evening as I try to track down someone who can open my apartment. Leaven your terror and worry with the knowledge that I played my first full soccer game ever today. The other team was distinctly unnerved by my unorthodox yet wildly inventive strategy of scoring on my own goal, and yet more confused by my curious inattentiveness once my team tethered me to my goalposts in the curious hope that I'd do less harm as goalie. In fact, our opponents were so disoriented by my brilliantly innovative gameplay that we actually won, a victory for which I claim full credit.

OK, back to cajoling the obnoxious little man who manages my apartment. You'll hear more soon... and if I don't come back, avenge my death!

Monday, December 04, 2006

In which I promise to reutrn to Thailand-specific blogging within a few hours...

But first!

Wal-Mart has announced that it is saying "thank you" to its employees for tolerating recent wage caps, enforced graveyard shifts, and other indignities.

Chief among the new perks will be a "special polo shirt" for associates who have served Wal-Mart for more than 20 years.

On one level, this is brilliant PR by Wal-Mart. After all, it's completely immune to satire - I've been staring at the page for 10 minutes trying to think of a snarky comment that doesn't sound blindingly obvious and therefore infantile. I've thus far failed miserably, and as such I give congratulations to Wal-Mart's marketing monkeys - well done, guys!