More Fun.

I wish my school had a giant green dinosaur on its roof. Instead, we just have a big metal statue of Ben Franklin sitting outside.

Corrected.

In Spanish class today one of the other students was talking about driving in an armored car.  The phrase an armored car literally translates as un coche blindado, but I was really excited when I thought he said un coche blinged-auto.

I soon learned the error of my ways and was deeply disappointed.

Details.

Listened to a 3 hour lecture on the socio-cultural changes in northern Europe since WWII.  All I really took away from the talk was the fact that the speaker has a nephew in Denmark who is a well known Danish rapper.  Sadly, I did not catch his nephew's name.

Opportunities and Challenges,

At the eye doctor earlier this week the eye tech introduced himself as Michael. He was a young guy and seemed a little bit out of his element. He didn't quite know how to work some of the equipment and seemed really nervous.

I asked him how he was doing and he explained that he was a student at Georgetown Medical and working at the office as part of an internship.

His English was pretty heavily accented and he told me that he was from Eritrea and came to the US two years ago when his wife won a diversity visa. (More info here: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1322.html. This is a big deal. To give you an idea of how hard it is to win the DV lottery, in 2010 only 799 people from the entire country of Eritrea won visas for the US from this program. There are almost 5 million people in Eritrea.)

He was surprised and a bit excited when I told him that I not only knew where Eritrea was, but that a few of my friends from Saudi Arabia were Eritrean (and good soccer players too).

Michael smiled at that and then told me about how life was really difficult in the US, much more than he had ever imagined. "I work all the time, or I have to study all the time. I live in a small apartment with my wife and her sister and their parents. I know there is a lot of opportunity in this country, but I never realized how hard you have to work to get it."

After finishing a few more measurements of my eyes, Michael scribbled in my chart and stood up to find the doctor.  We shook hands and I offered him some trite advice about hard work paying off over time. "Thank you," he said, "but I'm just so tired now."

Peek and Pounce.

I do like living with the cat very much. He's pretty cute and often fun to watch chase around the laser pointer or even just a piece of ribbon. Sometimes while I'm at my computer he'll sit in the chair across from me at the table and just kind peek over every now and then.

But it doesn't take much to for him to go from peek over the table to random attack. I guess you can put the cat in the apartment, but you can't put the apartment in the cat. Nope, that makes no sense at all. Nevermind.

Hand in Glove.

Didn't think I'd be so excited about a pair of children's Star Wars Lego gloves from Target; although to be fair I probably should have guessed I would be.

Seems a bit strange that only a few months ago I was figuring out ways to run in the 115+ degree heat, and now I'm buying gloves to run in the cold. I guess that whole tilted-axis-of-the-earth-causes-seasons thing is real.

Oh, and yeah I know you're asking the same question I am: What makes them Star Wars gloves? Shouldn't they be black with a white plate over the back of the hand like the Storm Troopers wear?

No idea. I just liked the blocks.

The Game.

On the 92 bus towards U street:

Yeah, I'm on my way to see my son.  We're gonna watch the Redskins game tomorrow.  Hell, I've been watching them play every Sunday since I was a little man.  I moved to DC in 1982 when I was five years old, and watched them play the very weekend we moved in.  My dad and I use to sit around and watch every Sunday. 

I played football when I was a young man too.  Didn't get to go as far with it as I'd have liked.  Nope, the street life got to me and I had to leave school.  I think I could have gone farther if not for that.

Now I'm just working hard, all that is behind me; just looking forward to seeing my son -- and my grandson too.