It’s beginning to look a lot like pre-school…

I know that the use of language in today’s mass media is geared toward a fifth-grade (or thereabouts) comprehension level. Surely, though, the folks we elect to serve in the highest offices should be at least a little smarter than a fifth grader. Perhaps we should have Jeff Foxworthy come and test the entire lot [...]

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Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow Americans!

It still feels very weird to type ‘my fellow Americans’. Sort of like a new pair of shoes, which are very comfortable and look great, but due to their newness still seem a little awkward and tend to squeak if you turn around too fast.
Independence Day is [...]

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Nice going, USA!

In the furore over Sanford, I had forgotten to mention something rather amazing.

Yesterday the US men’s soccer team defeated the world’s #1-ranked team – Spain – to reach the final of the Confederations Cup.
Spain were undefeated in the last 35 games (a joint world record), and are the reigning European champions.
Congrats to coach Bob Bradley [...]

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Weekend Round-up

Just a few bits regarding some of my favorite posting topics:

Dollhouse: The season finale of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse last night was amazing, astounding, astonishing, and quite possibly a lot of other words beginning with A.
For those of you who are interested in the show, but haven’t yet caught last week’s episode or last night’s, I’m [...]

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I’m officially American!

At 10:37 this morning, I was officially sworn in as a citizen of the United States.
While this doesn’t change very much in terms of my day-to-day life, it still represents a new chapter, the completion of a process which began with my moving over here eight years ago.

The last time I was in this room, [...]

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LIVEBLOG of Giant Robot Day!

I’m following some unusual advice today, from the good folks at On Your Feet:
“Go through your entire day visualizing that you have a personal giant robot that protects you, defends you and gives you outrageous compliments.”
It sounded like fun. And I’m going to liveblog it so you can see all the action as it happens.

7:00am [...]

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Free Verse Friday: America

I’m borrowing the tradition of Free Verse Friday from francoBeans at the Change I Wish to See. I may or may not manage it every Friday, but we’ll see. As far as some of the other traditions out there, I haven’t yet come up with anything for TMI Thursday, and I would do Wordless Wednesday [...]

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Cinches, cakewalks and Paris Hilton

What to these have in common? They’re all easy. In the last case, this is only allegedly, in case her lawyers are reading. ‘Cause, you know, this little blog would be a major threat to them.
But what of it? Why am I talking about easy things?
Oh yeah – my citizenship exam. The guy didn’t bother [...]

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Do I have to change my accent?

Tomorrow is my interview for naturalization as a U.S. citizen, along with the testing of my literacy in English and my knowledge of American history and government.

It’s been a long road to get here (Interstate 90, actually, back and forth to Buffalo a gazillion times) and for a long time I wasn’t going to bother [...]

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You say I’m a liberal like it’s a BAD thing

It’s a loaded word – these days, it’s usually loaded with poison and lobbed from a safe distance (e.g. Limbaugh’s microphone or Hannity’s desk), but is it really so bad to be liberal?
What does it even mean? Literally, it means that you allow stuff to happen. As such, it has become the favored antonym to [...]

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