Nice Weather...

When I was a kid, I think I must have seen a T-shirt, Happy Meal joke, billboard, or TV commercial that said, 

"Nice Weather... if you're a DUCK!"

Because every time the weather gets as crappy as it's been the last few days, that phrase always pops into my mind. It's been raining so much it's hard to be motivated to do anything except sit around inside. I guess that's bad (and really boring and repetitive) for my Pictures of the Day, but it's probably just as well for Blogtoberfest!

So for today's post I'm gonna put up some duck pictures. I was looking for a picture to illustrate this post and I came across a couple that I liked. Plus, ducks are pretty cool and funny. Additionally, it's 10:20 PM as I type this and I want to get this posted by midnight.

So first we have the picture above. I took it on a trip to Stockholm in 2005. It's not as nice as the next picture, but it's more reflective of the weather and the mood here today. Next!

I took this picture in the outside garden area at Domo restaurant in Denver on a recent trip to Colorado. It's a great place to eat. I guess technically this isn't a duck, but rather a "ducky," but oh well.

Finally, we have my favorite duck picture, taken of a statue in a fountain in Regensburg, Germany:

You can sort of see from this picture that the front of the statue is a priest, preaching to a flock of ducks. But it turns out he's really just a wolf in priest's clothing. That's how I feel about Costa Rica's weather this time of year. When you think "Central America," you think, "Ooh, nice, warm, sunny, etc.," and that's true for a few months of the year, but once it's got your interest, it grabs you by the neck and rains for months on end.

Anyhow, it's not that bad, but I had to blog about something, since it's Blogtoberfest, after all! Stay tuned tomorrow for another Blogtoberfest duck post!

Jon Beyonc� Jovi

I've been talking about conditional tenses lately on my Sitzman ABC language learning blog. If you're curious, I've talked about both first and second conditionals, and you're welcome to check them out. But that's not why I'm mentioning them now. I'm mentioning them because of Beyonc�: 

The reason I used this video on the ABC blog is because it shows really good and interesting use of the second conditional tense, which is used when you talk about something unreal or unlikely (like Beyonc� being a boy). It's interesting, because I've had students use this video in two different presentations lately, but I'd not heard the song six months ago. I guess in addition to living on top of a mountain, I'm also living under a rock, apparently. The song's lyrics, grammar, and message are good, and Beyonc�'s looking pretty good as a cop, I have to say! That girl could slam me again a police car and beat the crap out of me with a nightstick any day! Wait, that doesn't make any sense...

Also, Bon Jovi and/or Jon Bon Jovi have come up multiple times in both student presentations and textbooks, strangely enough. One student played this song (but not the video... I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, though):

Alright, never mind, it was definitely a good thing she didn't show the video. I remember thinking even in 1994 or whenever this video came out that it was ridiculous and frustrating and that it didn't make any damn sense. Is the point supposed to be that if you're a cheating jerk, you should also be a hypocrite and go blow up your ex's new boyfriend's apartment? Because that's what it seems to be about.

Don't get me wrong, I really like both Bon Jovi (the group) and Jon Bon Jovi (the lead singer's handle when going solo), but they were best around the time of New Jersey and Slippery When Wet, when they seemed more like a trashy, glammy, East Coast version of John Mellencamp times four or five (evidently I like Bon Jovi, but not enough to know how many people are in the band).

Hmm, where was I going with all this? Oh yes, music and videos in class. Well, guess I got off on a tangent there, so I may as well put up a few more Bon Jovi videos. Here's what I'm talking about:

And here's the video for what's probably my favorite Bon Jovi song. If you're feeling like a Monday (and today is a Monday, after all), then it's got some good advice for you, my friend:

I guess my second conditional phrase of the day is this: "If I were Beyonc�, I would call up Bon Jovi to collaborate on a concept album about a rocket-powered Chevy full of single ladies rocking in space."

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Mold, Either

I took this picture of Angela just a few days ago:

She was cleaning one of the drawers in her part of the closet because some of her clothes had gotten mold. In the past I've written about the myriad things around here that have gotten mold, so it's hardly worth mentioning at this point, except that when I was reading more of Paulo Coelho's Brida this afternoon I came across the following quote from p. 138 (It also shows how weird written quotations are in Spanish-language books, as the only two quotation marks are ones I put in):

   "...Wicca le pregunt� si usaba todas las ropas que pose�a.

   --Claro que no --fue la respuesta.

   --Pues, a partir de esta semana, utiliza todo lo que est� en tu armario.

   Brida crey� que no hab�a entendido bien.

   --Todo lo que contiene nuestra energ�a debe estar siempre en movimiento --dijo Wicca--. Las ropas que t� compraste forman parte de ti y representan momentos especiales. [...] Las ropas siempre transforman emoci�n en materia. Son uno de los puentes entre lo visible y lo invisible. Existen ciertas ropas que, inclusive, son capaces de hacer da�o, porque fueron hechas para otras personas y acabaron en tus manos."

I don't know about you, but that seems to me like a pretty clear justification and argument for my Ryan's Patented Clothes Rotating System if there ever was one!

Milan -Cathedral Trimmed with Lace

I was in Milan 2 days a week ago. It was a very busy trip but I had some hours free before I had to go home and decided to pass them exploring the terraces of the Dom. I was in Milan different times but I never had the possibility to visit it's interesting places. The only place I've just seen was right the Dome but it was under reconstruction in that period. So, this time I was sure I'll climb the stairs.

It was possible and there was a ticket -6 euro. But if you pay 10 euro, you can go there with the lift. Normally, there are 2 lifts as I understood. But one of them did not work. I spent more time to look wherer that lift is situating because it was from the other side of the building and I could not find it.

Other Travel Destinations

Here are some photos of the terraces of the Dom:

Ouwraight Poudafinga!

About five or six years ago my brother Paul went to Australia for a while. I only say "my brother Paul" to set the stage, and so you know his name. I've not got any other brothers. Anyhow, I think Paul was in Australia escaping the law or hunting wallabies or something (I guess I truly am not my brother's keeper), but the gist of it is that he was gone for a year or two. He did come down/up to Costa Rica for my wedding, though, which is pretty great, considering that he had to fly around 138 hours to get here, and he had to layover in Atlanta three times for some reason.

OK, I jest a bit. But he did go to Australia for a while and he did come to our wedding, and when he got here, he gave me an mp3 CD of various music. One of the albums that was on it was Tea & Sympathy by Bernard Fanning. There are about four things that seem a little weak about the album title and the singer's name, but I assure you that it's a great album and has become one of my favorites. My favorite song on that album is probably "Sleeping Rough," but since it's not got a video, here's the video for "Songbird," so you can have something to look at (you'll have to watch it on YouTube, since embedding has been disabled).

Good stuff, right? So I told Paul I really liked this guy's music, and he told me about Powderfinger*, Fanning's band. Apparently they're from Brisbane, which is really close to where Paul was living/ hiding out. He mentioned that he should let me listen to some of their albums, since he had a few, but we kept forgetting about it every time we were together in Colorado. So I started checking them out more by myself on the "Internet." If you've not used it before, it's a really neat place for music and stuff. I'm really liking Powderfinger, so I thought I'd share this nice video from their last album (from 2009):

It's a great song, a great video, great lyrics... all in all, it's pretty, um, "lovely"(?) Is that what Australians say, or is that British people? Lucy, you're the only Australian I know: can I get a little help here?

Anyhow, I'd highly recommend both Fanning and Powderfinger if you're looking for some good music. Unfortunately, they're no longer together, but they did leave quite a few good songs and albums to check out.

Thanks for reading, and keep your eyes open for more Blogtoberfest to come!


*Powderfinger: OK, maybe "Powderfinger" is some kind of drug reference, an Australian slang word, or an Australian slang word referring to drugs, but did anyone else think of skiing and powdered snow when they heard this name? Or is it just me because I come from Colorado?

Day Course - November 16 - Legends of Brittany

Find out all about the atmospheric and often surprising legends of Brittany. Where do they come from? What do they tell us about the origins of Brittany? And how come they are still so popular today - tales spun to entertain tourists or a real insight into local culture?
We'll share some stories, look at what it all means and doubtless find a lot to amuse ourselves if previous study days are anything to go by. Learn something and have fun at the same time!
The venue will be the caf�/bookshop L'Autre Rive on the edge of the forest at Huelgoat and details are on the Brittany Walks website (www.brittanywalks.com).

Some Flaky Puns

We ran out of cat food last night and there's obviously nowhere in Berlin that sells it. What to do, what to do? I wonder if cats eat cereal?

They do! Or at least Chubby does!

In fact, he turned out to be a veritable cereal killer!

No? 

Too corny? 

Too flaky? 

Was that pun a catastrophe? 

I myself thought it was purrfect!

A pun you could really sink your teeth into.

I chuckled so much that now I'm feline fine!

Just try to stop meow!

Only don't be catty--there's no claws in the blogger contract that prohibits puns.

OK, I'm done.