Thursday, January 31, 2008

State of the Union

So a couple of days ago, the USA was treated to the final State of the Union address by the current 'lame duck' president George W.(the name they give to a president who is leaving office at the next election). Of course, there are some that would argue that he was a bit of a lame duck throughout the last seven years he has been in the White House. Who am i to disagree? The general consensus from what i have read is that the ideas and issues presented and 'discussed' in the speech were pretty much recycled ones from the past few years - it seems that the Bush administration is becoming 'environmentally friendly' after all. The major difference was talk of the 'economic stimulus' package that is hoped to be passed in the coming weeks - an attempt to bolster the US economy by getting people to spend money. Of course, the increased panic caused by the recent half point decrease in interest rates to go with the three quarter point decrease of a few days prior hasn't really helped (the largest drop in the shortest period of time in US history so i believe). So what, really, is the State of the Union??

1. A struggling economy and a collapsing house market.
2. A rich-poor divide that has grown in the last few years.
3. A war in Iraq, costing an estimated $10 billion a month.
4. A markedly diminished reputation around the world.
5. Issues with immigrants that are suggested to be solved by 'building a big fence'
6. Large numbers of citizens without healthcare
7. One of the largest national debts in US history
8. A president who is openly mocked by US comedians and others around the world.

Now this is just a small number of things that spring to mind, or a cursory browse around the internet can find. I'm sure there are many other issues/problems that are still yet to be considered or addressed. It seems that the State of the Union is a bit of a mess. With the oncoming elections in November, will things only get better? Let's hope so because i just don't know what will happen if they get worse.

Labels: ,

Monday, January 28, 2008

A Load of Balls

For the past few Sundays, it's been the volleyball intramural competition at MUSC and this week, it came to a close. At least for my team it did. Yes, having once again been roped in to captain (i guess it's my height), and spending the last few weeks practicing and playing, it all came down to the game yesterday where we, unfortunately, lost although did manage to take the game into overtime. Overall, i was particularly pleased with how we played yesterday both together as a team, and in terms of the attacks that we set up. However, it seems that luck just wasn't with us this year. However, i feel in large part that this was due to some rather shocking lack of consistency in the refereeing of some of the games we have played. This is not to put down the teams that beat us - some of them were definitely better. However, there were a couple that we could've beaten pretty easily had the decisions been made more fairly.

As an example of this, one of the cardinal rules of the game is to steer clear of the net. Any touch of the net, be it a graze or a full blown 'fall into' results in the point being awarded to the other team. Thus, we were rather dismayed to be called on minor grazes of the net, when the opposition seemed to get away all too often with some quite serious incursions. Yesterday, for example, a player on the other team went up to spike the ball and did so, but virtually took the net with him. When we pointed this out to the ref (it's not like it wasn't obvious), he wasn't having any of it. The same goes for 'carrying' the ball - all contacts are meant to be brief and extended holding on to the ball is not allowed. A couple of weeks back, we were playing a team with one guy who thought he was playing basketball seemed to enjoy getting the ball and slam dunking it over the net - despite the fact that in order to do this he held the ball for a good 2-3 secs. The ref didn't bat an eyelid. Anyway, at this stage, there is not going to be any use in complaining about it - what's done is done. It just feels rather frustrating that after taking the time to practice and improve our game a lot, we lost out on some crappy decisions. I just guess that's life sometimes.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Conversation Piece...

Picture, if you will, a busy 'Subway' in downtown Charleston and me, quite frankly, starving as i stand in the queue waiting to be served. There is obviously quite a line as it's a busy restaurant and there aren't too many staff on hand. But still, the queue is moving reasonably. I get to the start of the counter and ask for a foot-long Club sandwich (told you i was hungry) and then shuffle slowly along to to the vegetable part of the whole process.

Server: Lettuce, Tomato? (pronounced 'Tom-ay-to' of course)

Me: Yes. Lettuce, tomato, green pepper please.

Server (having not added tomato): What else?

Me: Tomato as well please.

Server: Mustard only?

Me: Excuse me? No. No mustard. But i'd like tomato as well please.

Server slides sandwich along to co-worker: Mustard only.

Me: No, no, no, no!!

Voila, a large dollop of mustard gets added, i promptly bang my head again the glass counter. Okay, not really. I pointed out the error and the first Server insisted that i had asked for Mustard Only, but the sandwich was remade and all was well and done. After being here for two and a half plus years now, i had grown accustomed to my accent being misheard, but this is the first it has happened in some time. I guess it was a combination of the noise, and how busy the place was, added to my insistence on saying 'Tom-ah-to' that confused matters. But how Tomato sounds like mustard only? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Thankfully, i got my sandwich and that was all that mattered.

Labels: ,

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

More to the manners???

As is often the case at lunchtimes, i nearly always end up having to wait in a queue. I'm not overly bothered really - after all, queuing is something of a national past-time in the UK. Hell, there's a whole culture and etiquette of how to stand and behave in a queue that's sprung up around it. But I digress. As I was waiting, I was indulging in my usual hobby of people-watching (and listening) and something struck me as rather stand-out. Namely, the way that many of the customers (if not all of the ones in my immediate vicinity) were speaking to the workers. Out of the many people in the queue, I would swear that I was the only one who uttered the words please and thank you, as my sandwich was being prepared (this was in the Subway queue, i should add). Everyone else seemed to enjoy communicating in short, terse sentences. Not only was there a lack of any politeness what-so-ever, but the tone of voice often used was not particularly pleasant either - there were those who were generally talking down, those who were speaking to the workers as if they were talking to a child and so on. Given that i know what it's like to be on the other end, i find it rather annoying in the extreme.

As I stood there growing more incredulous at the minute, it did strike me that there might be more to this than meets the eye. Aside from the 'talking down to a person who is perceived as a lower class of worker' that might be the obvious explanation, I did wonder if there actually might be some basic racist aspect to the whole thing. Y'see, the majority of workers behind the counter were hispanic or african-american. Ok, now i might be over-interpreting (having recently taken a course in Diversity issues, this is rather on my mind at the moment) but also remembering that this is the South, and so this subtle racism doesn't seem too much of a stretch. Indeed, its certainly something that i've commented on before. However, this is often the hardest mindset to change. After having to endure this for merely a few moments in a queue, it felt like there's an awful big mountain to climb.

Friday, January 18, 2008

And so it goes on....

And what better way to start this new chapter in my blog with a look at the chaos that is the 2008 presidential election. Or rather not, as this is still just the prelim of selecting a candidate. To say that TV and new coverage is rather saturated with the whole shebang would be an understatement. Barely a newspaper is printed, or commericals go by without there being something said by some candidate. Now, as a non-US citizen, you can imagine that it's rather frustrating given that i can't do much of anything about it, but i also get the sense that a lot of my american friends and colleagues are just sick of hearing about it all already. Given how much exposure the public have to this kind of thing, it actually seems no real surprise that by the time the real elections roll around in November, the voter turnout is low. I'd quite frankly be sick to death of it all.

That aside, this race is shaping up to be reasonably interesting for both parties as there has yet to be a clear leader of the pack. For the democrats, we have the competition between two potential firsts - the first woman and the first black man run. For the Republicans, well, if i'm honest i don't pay much attention to them as they're frankly far too conservative for my tastes. Suffice to say, it's still all up in the air. However, as with all political races, both here and back in the UK, there nearly always seems to be some focus on sniping and putting down your opponents rather than selling yourself well on your ideas and platforms. After the months of campaigning and watching the same commercials again and again, with the same speeches again and again, I ultimately reach the conclusion that all politicians are the same. Which is not a new one at that. And, in the long run, despite all the promises and pontificating, i doubt that very much is going to be different after all is said and done.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

He's Back...

Well, dear readers (if i actually have any), i decided after an extended break that it was high time for me to pick up my....er...keyboard and fill you in, once again, on the daily goings on of a British research scientist humbly trying to survive in deepest darkest South Carolina (okay, Charleston) without losing my sanity. Or at least the little bit of sanity that i claim to have left. Suffice to say, it's been a rather strange few months without the outlet of regular posts on here. At times, i've found myself with entirely too much time on my hands, yet at other moments, i've been glad not to have this taking up precious moments required for sleep and other such necessary activies (like Christmas parties). Still, i've currently got a handle on things all work and life related (famous last words, i'm sure) and fully intend to try and update this at least once a week. Maybe twice, if you're lucky. I'm sure there is going to be a wealth of material to discuss in the coming months, what with the craziness of election year already well underway (complete with the accompanying apathy) as well as the general wackiness of the Southern folk to contend with. And a trip to Italy come the end of February as well to keep me (and hopefully you, dear reader) entertained.

For now, the shackles are off, the electricity is running and there seems to be life in this (relatively) old dog yet. It's good to be back!

Labels: ,