Check out what my Dad's been up to...

Don't know if you noticed that my Dad started a blog a couple of weeks ago. He started out kind of serious, but it looks like he may have lightened up a bit with his latest post.

Robertson Family Irish Dancers

Brentisms

We found 3 opened large containers of cottage cheese in the refrigerator the other night. Mom got them out and we looked at all the expiration dates. I wondered (out loud!) if you mixed all three of the cartons together, could you average out the expiration date? Hmmmmmm.

Making a Lizst, Checking it Twice

I don't know what got into me! Mom and I were just talking and I told her how much I liked a piece I heard in my music humanities class. It's Franz Lizst's LaCampanella. So, I looked it up online so I could play it for Mom. Pretty cool. I read more about in on Wikipedia and found a place to print up the original piano piece. La Campanella turns out to be 9 pages out of a 42 page piece. It is a very challenging piece but I have page one almost down pat. I do my usual technique of looking for patterns to memorize instead of reading the music each time. I'm practicing it at home and even at the institute while waiting for class. This is a great hobby. I think I'll even try to learn the whole 42 pages -that's a page a week! And as Mom always says, "Practice makes perfect!" You'll have to check back with me in a month or so and see if I'm still progressing.

Nothing sucks like an Electrolux

So in my German class we were discussing phrases that don't travel well and false cognates (definition #2) and last night we had Ursula over for a cruse reunion (OK, so it was just Ursula, Grandma, Aunt Eileen, Mom, Dad, and me; and I didn't even go on the cruse.) and I decided to share these phrases that don't travel well and some false cognates. Chevrolet tried to market their car the Chevy Nova in Spanish speaking countries. (No va means doesn't go in Spanish.) Electrolux (a European vacuum company) marketed their vacuums in the US with the slogan "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux." Kentucky Fried Chicken tried to market their chicken globaly and their slogan "Finger lickin' good" often translated to "So good you'll eat your fingers off."

False cognates are also funny, but they are a lot funnier when you consider the confusion that might ensue when a German and an American meet. (The bolded words are in German and the italicized words are the English translations.) kahl means bald while bald means soon. schnell means fast while fast means almost. Stein means rock while Rock means skirt. Geschenk means gift while Gift means poison. Rathaus does not mean rat house, but instead means city hall. One interesting thing is that in German nouns are always capitolized.

Beam Me Up Scotty - Or Not!

Since I can't just be beamed from here to there, I've been using public transportation to get back and forth to school. I've been exploring different routes and options and have had some great times. I often will ask Mom or Dad to drop me off at one of two bus stops in the am but I get much more adventuresome in the afternoon on my return trip home. I've discovered that I can miss the bus at the transit center either by 2 mins if I take the bus to Amaya and catch the trolley one exit and get off at the transit center or I can miss it by 5 mins. by just taking the bus to the transit center. Oh well. Since I had time to kill before the next bus, I just stayed on the trolley one day and took a trip out to Santee and back.

But, now I've discovered the fastest route. Get to the transit center (by either of the above methods) and then take the bus down Main or Washington (Washington is less walking), walk to Mom's work, call her to get her keys and drive home! And maybe I won't have to go back to get her because Dad will pick her up on his way home.

Maybe I'll take a cell phone picture of my travels and post it (probably about like getting my haircut picture posted)

OK, so who's in charge here?

I went to make some changes, but realized I'm not the administrator. Who is? Will you add me as an administrator if I ask nicely and smile? Please?

Jeans and the Neatnik

Before Mom starts commenting on both my hair and my jeans, I thought I'd better write my own blog (LOL). The story is that my jeans used to be a little longer and did cover my socks. But, maybe they've been shrinking (LOL again) and now are too short. So, I tried to get Mom to go with me to the store but she was unavailable and I headed out shopping on my own!! Mom said she had luck getting my size of jeans at JC Penney. I had a hard time finding the store at the mall but after a phone call to mom, there it was! So, in the mens department, I locate the jeans area. They are piled up on tables. I found one pair I liked and then another, in the right size and color and style. I tried them on and thought they were plenty long to cover whatever color of sock I might be wearing, whether standing or sitting. I wanted to find another pair but the piles of jeans were so incredibly unorganized it was a mess! So, you know me, I stood there folding jeans and organizing two tables of piled up jeans! And lo and behold, I found one more pair. It took me some time to buy three pairs of jeans, but mission accomplished. Mom burst out laughing picturing me folding all the pairs of jeans and organizing them. It would have been a quicker trip if Mom had come with me!!! She knows how to pile jeans and dig through them - she's had 5 kids after all. Well, I've just been wearing one pair until they were washed after wearing and I could be sure they were the right fit (that way I could return the others if need be). Ok, Jocelyn, let's go get some socks!