Small Change

When I lived back in the US I had this great big beer mug (I have no idea where I actually got it... but it originated in Vegas and had this lovely slogan on it, "Poker in the front, liquor in the back"... but I digress) that I used to put my spare change in. It mostly contained pennies, but also had the occasional nickels, dimes, and quarters. When my paycheck didn't last until the next payday that mug came in mighty handy. It meant hamburgers at McDonald's for dinner and a gallon of gas to get to work.

I think nearly everyone that I have ever known in America has had one of these "change mugs" at one time or another. Once I was able to make my paycheck last until the end of the month, I kept throwing my spare change in the mug, but wasn't taking so much out anymore. Finally, when I was packing up and getting ready to move to Germany I took my mug to the bank and ended up getting about $36 in cash for my change. As you can plainly see, if you don't have to use the spare change for the necessities it can really add up. (Even though to be honest, it DID take about 2 years for it to do so.)

Since moving to Germany I have not begun the small change mug again. I no longer have my Poker/Liquor Mug (it got thrown in with a box of dishes that I got rid of) and small change here really isn't so small.

In America, the largest common coin denomination is the quarter (25 cents). Therefore you can have a lot of change in your change mug, but it takes a while to add up. Sure occasionally you might run across a Susan B. Anthony Dollar or a fifty-cent piece, but most people keep them as collectibles. But here there are coins that are worth 1 and 2 Euros (current exchange rate 1 Euro = about $1.20). Those large denomination coins don't make it so easy for me to throw them in my mug and forget about them.

Even so, I guess the small change phenomenon has struck the rest of the population here in Germany. In fact, according to this report, the Germans are apparently so good at hoarding their small change that there is a shortage of it. They literally have to bring change in from Austria by the truck load and "[t]he Bundesbank has called on Germans to spend their stores of small change and has urged retailers to accept larger sums in coins."

So next time I am holding up the line at dm because I am paying for my deodorant and toothpaste in coins instead of handing them a 10 Euro bill, I won't feel bad. After all, I am only answering the plea of the Bundesbank.

A Keyboard Story

To begin with... why do I always get inspired to write my blog entries when I really should be in bed asleep?

Anyway, for tonight's topic...

While A. and I were discussing getting me a new computer, he asked me to make a list of things that I wanted it to have. One of things that I said I would like, but I did not find absolutely necessary, was an American keyboard.

First of all, let me tell my American readers who may not know this: keyboards all around the world are not the same. Some languages have completely different alphabets than we do and yet others have letters with accent marks or umlauts that are a necessary part of the language. For example, in German there are three letters (a, o, and u) that also come in the "umlaut" variety (ä, ö, and ü), not to mention the ß. Because these letters are used frequently, they must have a place on the keyboard. Therefore, the keyboard layout is different.

In the afore-mentioned situation, A. was a big supporter of getting me a computer with a German keyboard. His argument was simple and logical. We live in Germany and I will someday work and use a computer in Germany. As a cultural integration step, I should make the move to a German keyboard. Not to mention the fact computers in Germany come with German keyboards unless you order them specifically to come with an American keyboard.

After many heated discussions which usually ended up with me pouting about how I didn't want to use a German keyboard and that at home I will "always" type in English, I finally relented. I would get a German keyboard. After all, his "we live in Germany" claim did have a certain logic to it.

So, we went to our local hole in the wall, run by the Russian mob, for IT specialists or computer geeks only computer store. We had a particular computer for me in mind. I looked at it, played with the keyboard a little, and then we asked if they had any of that particular model in stock. No, they didn't. They had to order one. I saw a window of opportunity. Slyly, I asked how much it would cost to order it with an American keyboard. It was a mere 60 Euros. So, before A. could protest, I told the friendly Russian mobster that I would like to order it with an American keyboard. A. gave me the evil eye, but didn't say anything.

Upon leaving the store A. asked me what was up with the whole German integration thing. I replied that I changed my mind (at least as far as the computer keyboard went). I wanted an American keyboard all along and he knew it. So, I got what I wanted after all.

But here is the punch line...

Two days later we went to pick up the computer and learned that what they did was order a German laptop and an American laptop keyboard... separately. So, I got my computer, but the keyboard won't be here for another couple of weeks. I will have to take the computer into the shop so they can change the keyboards for me when the American keyboard arrives.

And after all that rigmarole, I am currently typing from a German keyboard but have Windows XP set up to default to an American keyboard layout... and it isn't so bad as long as I don't look at my hands when I type.

Nein, Danke...

Today I saw a really impressive commercial on MTV.

The scene opens in coffee house. A young man in his 20s is sitting at a table drinking a coffee and smoking a cigarette. Suddenly, he spies a very attractive young woman at the next table. After making eye contact a couple of times, he goes over to her table and smiling, he offers her a cigarette. She waves them away and reaches into her purse as if to get her own cigarettes. Instead she pulls out a microphone-like contraption, puts it to her throat, and says in an electronic voice, "Nein danke, ich rauche nicht mehr." (trans. "No thank you, I don't smoke anymore.")

All I can say is, "Wow. That's quite a message."

I wish I could show that to my sister, my best friend, and everyone else I know who smokes...

Deutsch für den Beruf - Part 2

Since my German Business class ends in approximately one week, I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect a little bit on the whole experience.

First the positive aspects:

I had a chance to practice my German twice a week. This was by far the biggest benefit from this class. Since I don't currently work in Germany, have few German-speaking friends, and always speak English at home with A. I don't speak German as fluently as I would like. Any chance I have to speak German is definitely a good thing.

Another advantage of this class is that I learned a lot of practical and business-related vocabulary. For example, I spent an entire year at the Goethe-Institut and never added the word for "to deliver" (liefern) to my active vocabulary. Now I am not knocking GI... I don't think I would be as far in my German today as I am without them, but in the time since I have finished there I have found that I don't always know practical everyday vocabulary as well as I should.

Finally, my teacher was quite good. In addition to her regular duties, she was also willing to answer questions about and give me feedback concerning my first German resume and cover letter.

The negative aspect:

Overall I didn't feel the class was as "job-oriented" as I was looking for. I was looking for a class whose goal was, "OK, you are a foreigner living in Germany and want to work here. Here is the proper way to design a German-resume, answer a job ad, write a proper business letter, and overall deal with the German business climate."

Now it wasn't that we DIDN'T do these things. We did. We practiced telephone conversations, submitted a resume, and wrote various letters in groups. However, I would have liked the lessons to have been built around these business tasks but instead they were just tacked on in the midst of the different lessons.

But I guess any practice with these tasks is beneficial. Since I began the class, I have applied for a couple of different library jobs. And for the first time since I moved to Germany I felt comfortable enough writing email and letters that I didn't feel it absolutely necessary to have A. go through what I did with a fine-tooth comb before I sent it.

Overall, I would say that this class was a satisfactory experience for me. If I don't get a job this summer though whether or not I will take "Deutsch für den Beruf II" remains to be seen.

Rebel Librarians

The tag line to this article on the BBC News' front page reads: "Rebel Librarian: The U.S. PATRIOT Act encounters some unlikely opposition."

I'm quite aggravated with this tag line because I believe it portrays librarians as stereotypically quiet, conservative, and compliant, with only a select few protesting the U.S. PATRIOT Act. In fact, the U.S. PATRIOT Act has widely upset the library community and moved it to speak out and campaign against the consequences that this Act has had and is having on American Civil Liberties.

Ever since it was passed in October 2001, the U.S. PATRIOT Act has encountered opposition from the library community. The main bone of contention lies in the fact that using the PATRIOT Act, the Department of Justice (including the FBI) can access a patron's library records using a grand jury subpoena without judicial approval at all. In addition, one provision orders any person or institution served with a search warrant not to disclose that such a warrant has been served or that records have been produced pursuant to the warrant. (More information about the U.S. PATRIOT and libraries can be found at the ALA PATRIOT Act Site.)

Librarians are stark defenders of the First Amendment and believe that "privacy is essential to the exercise of free speech, free thought, and free association. In libraries, the right to privacy is the right to open inquiry without having the subject of one's interest examined or scrutinized by others." (from ALA's Guidelines for Developing a Library Privacy Policy) As a general rule, librarians guard a person's library records much like a doctor protects a patient's medical records. Not only is the PATRIOT Act an assault on patron privacy and freedom to access information free from scrutiny, it is an insult to the Library Bill of Rights and our Code of Ethics.

To Protect and Serve

A while back, my dad sent me an email informing me that he was considering running for county sheriff in the area where I grew up. Today, I found out that he won the primary and will be on the ballot come election time. I am really rooting for him. Not only would it mean a pay raise and the responsibility he craves, but in a country where police don't always have the best reputations, my dad is a damn good cop and I am proud of him.

Truthfully, however, I wasn't always proud to have a dad that was a cop. My dad became a police officer the year that I turned 16 and I viewed this as a complete and utter tragedy. The entire population of Iowa is less than 3 million people (That is less than the population of Berlin!) and the area that comprises a 100 mile radius of where I grew up is probably around 30,000 at the most. In an area with such a small population, chances are that no matter where you are someone knows your family. Even if you try, there are no secrets.

The police officers in these counties have always had a good working relationship and keep each other informed about the area's shady characters. They also tell each other whose kids are hanging out with whose and if one police officer's kid gets pulled over for speeding or caught drinking underage that kid's police officer parent knows before the ink is dry on the ticket... which is exactly what happened to me on more than one occasion between the time I was 15 and 18.

There was the time that I was driving a little too fast on a gravel road to the lake when I was supposed to babysitting (a cheap cover, but it worked) and skidded off into the ditch and broke the ti-rod on my truck. I didn’t get a ticket that time, but the officer that came to make sure everything was alright also called my dad. After that, the babysitting cover story didn't work so well anymore.

There was also the time that as I was driving home late for curfew and I "rolled" through the stop sign at the major intersection in town. I got pulled over and received a stern warning, but when I got home (just about 5 minutes late) I got an earful about coming to a "full stop" at stop signs.

And then there was the time that I was with some friends and two of us (my cousin and I) got Minor in Possession (of alcohol - a BAD thing in the US) and the other two of us (my boyfriend and hers) got Supplying to Minors. That time I did get a ticket (and a court date and an evaluation with a psychologist) and when I got my phone call at the police station to call my mom, she said Dad was already on the way. In all honesty, I would have preferred to spend the night in jail than endure the ride home that night.

Oh yes, during my teenage years I cursed the fact that my dad was a cop so many times I lost count. We had huge arguments at home where he accused me of being a rebellious teenager and I accused him of never taking his cop uniform off long enough to remember that he was also a dad.

Once I finally moved out and our relationship cooled enough that we got along again, I looked back at his first years as a police officer and realized that it was tough for him to "leave his uniform at the door" because once you become a cop, you are a role model whether you like it or not. You can either choose not to take the role seriously and become the hypocritical cop that has a secret alcohol problem and spends more time at the donut shop than at the police station or you can become the kind of cop that wants to make a difference in the lives of people by the traditional motto of "protect and serve." My dad chose the latter and that is why today I am proud of him and think that he deserves all the prestige and responsibility that goes with the title of sheriff.

One Voter's Apathy

While looking at campaign posters for the European Parliament Election a couple of weeks ago, I started thinking about the upcoming American Presidential Election and what I would need to do to be able to vote from overseas.

I went out on the Web and found the web site for the Fedreal Voting Assistance Program and spent most of one afternoon reading all the rules and regulations.

The first thing that I learned is that I must vote according to the last place where I was registered to vote and then I must follow the guidelines for that state. For me that is Mississippi. There is, of course, paperwork to fill out, a journey to the Embassy (or Consulate) to get the paperwork notarized, and trips to the post office involved. Here it sounds simple, but add on the required deadlines and it suddenly began to look to me like a major hassle.

As previously discussed, I don't like Bush and I am about 98% sure that Mississippi will go Republican in this election, as they did in the last one. I quickly realized that I was asking myself if the whole thing was worth the time and effort I would need to put into it, since for all intents and purposes, by not voting Republican in Mississippi, my vote won't count anyway. And while I think Bush's foreign policy stinks, I am not sure Kerry's would be much better as he would have so much fence-mending to do that nothing would really happen. As for domestic issues, I still glance over the Internet to find out what they are, but they just don't really matter that much to me anymore.

I have voted in every presidential election and in a few special elections (one was for the possible flag change in Mississippi) since I turned 18 (1992). As a kid, I always looked forward to voting as a way to participate in democracy. As a teenager when I was discovering my feminist side, I was determined to vote whenever there was an election to exercise the right that so many women had worked so long and hard for. But as I grew up, politics really didn't interest me all that much and even before the Election Fiasco of 2000, I was quite cynical about the whole process.

Webster defines "apathy" as "lack of emotion or interest," and that may be exactly what compels me this time to exercise my right to vote by not doing it.

Glaciers in the Greenhouse

"Glaciers in the Greenhouse" is a photographic trip through time looking at how well Alpine glaciers are withstanding the "greenhouse effect."

Using over 50 historical postcards and photographs from around 1900 and comparing them with contemporary photographs, this exhibit documents the retreat of the Alpine glaciers in Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, and Germany. The photographers of the recent photographs went to great lengths to provide as exact duplication of the historical postcards and photographs as possible. Through these comparative studies, one can then use landmarks to see the change in the glaciers.

In addition to the comparative photographs, a write-up includes a wealth of information about how the summer of 2003 affected the glaciers. For example, approximately 2 meters of ice melted from the Zugspitze and the "Zero-Degree Border" was above 4000 meters until mid-September.

The effects of the melting Alpine glaciers are numerous and influence everything from tourism to farming. Winter sports become problematic, melting permafrost leaves the ground unstable, water reserves disappear, and when the glaciers fade the mountains aren't kept as cool causing the greenhouse effect to accelerate. Like the rainforests, the glaciers of the Alps provide priceless benefits that we have only begun to comprehend.

"Glaciers in the Greenhouse" runs until January 26, 2005, at the Alpine Museum in Munich (Praterinsel 5, 80538 Munich). The museum is open Tuesday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The New Harry Potter Movie

We saw the new Harry Potter movie today!

As a movie, I thought it was pretty good. But honestly I was a little disappointed, because as a book adaptation, it left something to be desired. I felt that the director made the assumption that the audience had read the book. Therefore, he skimmed over a lot a things and didn't develop the plot as fully as he should have. Overall, I don't think the movie did the book the justice it deserved.

Perhaps when the DVD comes out there will be an extended edition (like The Lord of the Rings) that will fill in the things that were left out and make it a worthy successor of the other two Harry Potter films.

The Little Old Lady

Today, after my job interview (which went very well... I will be hearing more in the next week or so) I was sitting in the S-Bahn station waiting for my train. While I was sitting there I pulled this plastic folder that had all my job interview stuff in it out of my bag.

The folder is a little larger than a piece of paper (holds both letter and A4 size nicely) and is sort of like a flat box. It is closed by two rubber bands, one on either side of it. It is a very handy contraption. After sorting a couple of things, I put it back in my bag.

Then this little old lady (probably near 80) that was sitting next to me very quietly and politely inquired where I got it. I thought for a second (I bought it quite a few years ago, but think I got it at Wal-Mart) and responded, "Ich habe es in den USA gekauft." (trans: I bought it in the USA) At this point the lady must have realized from my awful accent that I was a foreigner. She then proceeded to ask me (in English) if I was American.

"Yes," I said. We then proceeded to have a nice conversation about Germany, the US, how you can buy things here that you can't there and vice versa, and how I came to be in Germany.

The funny part is that during this conversation, the lady spoke to me in English and I spoke to her in German. I was in a German frame of mind today and decided that I would not lapse into English as I am prone to do when people speak English to me here.

She was a very nice little old lady, but what struck me was her extremely good English. What I mean by this is that here in Germany I pretty much expect people my age (give or take 10 years) to at least know a little English, since it is taught in the schools from a very early age. But with older people, I don't have such expectations.

She was obviously pretty well-versed in English and enjoyed the opportunity to speak it with me. In addition, she told me that my German was very good and that she thought it was great that I had learned German so quickly. (Remember, I spoke NO German before coming here.)

After the 4 or 5 minute conversation she hopped into her train and I guess I will never see her again. However, she will always have a place as one of my wonderful memories of Germany.

Venus Transit

If you weren't already aware of it, today there was a Venus Transit, an event that occurs only twice every (approximately) 120 years. The last Venus Transit was in 1882, the next will be in 2012, and then there won't be another until 2117.

Being amateur astronomers, (OK, A. is the amateur astronomer, I just tag along and look into the telescope) A. and I lugged our telescope outside at the ungodly hour of 7 a.m. (I am not a morning person!) to check it out. When we were discussing it last night, I suggested we try and take some pictures of it with my digital camera. It took some shots to get the hang of it, but some of them came out quite nicely.

If you look at the below pictures, Venus is the black dot in the Sun. Our telescope shows things upside down, so we saw Venus at the top of the Sun, but technically it was at the bottom.

photo by blondelibrarian

Pretty cool, huh?

Wedding Regrets

Yesterday, we visited Landshut and St. Martinskirche, a Gothic church with the highest brick tower (131 meters; 430 ft) in the world. Next to it is a smaller "Women's Chapel." We went inside and found this very intimate chapel that was a little worn, but still quite beautiful. While sitting there looking at the frescos on the ceiling A. said to me, "You know, sometimes I wish we had gotten married somewhere like this."

We got married in Las Vegas and it was sort of a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. It was a little bit better planned than some Vegas weddings, (I reserved the chapel about a month in advance and sent an announcement to people) but it was sort of an add-on to a trip we were taking anyway. My mom, dad, step-mom, sister, and aunt were there. We got a little dressed-up, said our "I dos," and were out of there and on our way to dinner (paid for by Dad) about 30 minutes later. That was it. It was fun and funtional.

Unlike some girls who plan their weddings from the time they are six, I honesty never really had an idea of what sort of wedding I wanted. I thought the chances that I would get married were very slim, so when I actually decided to get married, the Vegas thing seemed to be as good as anything.

However, after we got married and the happier I was being married, the more I thought about the kind of wedding I wished I would have had. Shortly after moving here, I saw a dress in a bridal shop window that would have been perfect and though I am not religious, I envisioned a small ceremony in a chapel like the one we saw yesterday. (I guess certain fantasies pounded into little girls' heads die hard.)

With the exception of the fact that I briefly mentioned to A. that I had seen the dress, I have never told him that while I don't regret getting married, sometimes I wish we would have done something more for our wedding. Yesterday, when he expressed basically the same thing that I had been thinking off and on for some time now, tears came to my eyes. I am not hopelessly romantic (actually the exact opposite), but it was the sweetest thing he has ever said to me and made me realize just how much I love him.

I guess we could always renew our vows in a ceremony, and I could buy that dress and we could find a little chapel like that, but it just wouldn't be the same. Today I am just so sad that I didn't take more time to think about our wedding and what I could have had.

On Language and Counting

Last night we had pizza for dinner. Upon paying for the pizza, A. noticed that our good Italian waiter (who speaks extremely good German) was counting back our change in Italian. Since I wasn't dealing with the money I didn't notice, but upon our walk home A. remarked,

"It doesn't matter how many languages you speak or where you are, you always count in your native language, don't you?"

When I looked at him a little puzzled he explained how he noticed the waiter was counting our change in Italian.

I then asked him if even after living in the US for 8 years if he always has counted in German. Even though he is quite a mathematician and thinks in English when he does mathematics and algebra, he confirmed what I suspected: He still counts in German.

No question about it, I always count in English.

Interestingly enough, I once read something about that very subject: No matter where someone lives or how long they live there, they almost always count in their native lanuage.

And the reason for this is:

People tend to perform mental tasks with the language in which they learned them. For instance, some bilingual French Alsatians living near the border with Germany report that they count in French and do algebra in German. This is because they learned their counting skills and simple mathematics in French at primary schools and abstract algebra in German at secondary schools.
-- from "Language and Culture: Learning Language"

(Note: This is not an excerpt from the original article I read on this subject. I can't recall where I found it now, but the points raised here are, in a nutshell, what I remember reading.)

I am getting better at thinking in German more often when I am out and about nowadays, but if I never count in German, since there is a scientific reason for it, I guess won't feel bad.

Framed!

After much struggle, I finished framing my RCG Kitchen Alphabet today. I know I said I was going to hang it in my kitchen, but I don't know... it looks so good and I am afraid it will get dirty in the kitchen (it isn't exactly the cleanest room in my apartment, you know). Maybe I will hang it in the hallway outside the kitchen... hmm

Kitchen Alphabet

Last winter, when I first started downloading free cross-stitch patterns off the web, I downloaded Ellen Maurer-Stroh's Kitchen Alphabet Series. Yep, all 26 letters. I left the downloaded patterns in my computer's Cross Stitch Directory and didn't think too much more about them.

Then a couple of weeks ago at breakfast, I looked above my table and noticed this glaring white space that was crying out for decoration. The proverbial light-bulb went off above my head: It was a perfect place for the Kitchen Alphabet!

However, I don't like to do big projects and all 26 letters, plus a border, plus two chef hats was a pretty daunting thought. Once again, I had an idea: How about just my initials? That is only three of the 26 letters and was a manageable project. I had even seen a frame at the craft store that looked to be about the right size.

Well, I bought the frame and finished painting it today. I finished the cross-stitching today too. I will photograph the entire project when finished, but for now I am sharing the finished cross-stitch piece.

© blondelibrarian

As I asked A. last night, why is it that bored housewives inevitability turn to crafts?

On Working

When I was growing up, my mom only had one dream for me: That I go to college and have a career. I don't remember her ever talking to me about someday getting married and/or having children. And while I have always been an independent-minded person, I never questioned that I would go to college and have a career. I figured I would be one of those women who lived alone with her cats and would work at least 60 hours a week.

Well, I did go to college. I liked it so much that I then went on to grad school with every intention of first establishing myself a good career as a librarian and then eventually I would go back to school, get my PhD. and finish my life as a lonely Comparative Literature Scholar and Professor. Some dream, eh?

However, things didn'y work out as planned. First of all, the more I thought about it, the more I decided Comparative Literature wasn't what interested me, but Linguistics. Not too far of a departure from the literature and languages I had studied in the past, but by then I was working as a librarian. For the first time in my life I was getting my debts paid off and though I was "only" working 40 hours a week, I was exhausted. I didn't have enough energy to think too much about more grad school, let alone fill out all the paperwork to get there, and the thought of the time required to do a PhD. was daunting. I longed for the days of going to school (just class with a few term papers here and there) and my 20 hour a week assistantship position. Very quickly after beginning my career as a librarian, I came to this conclusion: working is highly overrated. Did I want to spend my life exhausted, with nothing but work to do? Not really. But what could I do? I was single and I had cats to support.

Quite unexpectedly, during this mini-crisis, I fell in love. This complicated things. Now I was trying to work and have a long-distance social life too. Pretty soon I was just going through the motions at work and spending only the bare minimum time there. I started looking for a different job so I could be closer to my man. I got some interviews and then he asked me to move in with him and then to marry him. I was concerned at the time because I didn't have a job, but he said that it was OK. He could support us, and I thought maybe it was a good time for a break from working. (After all, I HAD been working for two and a half years by then!) So, I accepted. Then we moved to Europe and I had a new language to learn before I could even think about working again.

Well, I have learned the language and now I can think about working again. But in the time that has passed I have discovered so many sides of myself that I never knew were there. They were repressed by the belief that I MUST be a career woman and didn't have the time to enjoy other things. But I do enjoy those things and don't want to give them up.

So, I have some decisions: First, I do want to go back to work. (I am just not cut out to be a housewife) Second, I must be able to balance my working life with my personal life. Third, building a career didn't make me as happy as I thought it would. Fourth, the ideal position for me is one where I can do what I like and am trained to do: i.e., be a librarian, but isn't so demanding that it takes me away from enjoying the rest of my life.

Now, where can I find such a job?

Maybe if I get lucky with one of the two part-time library positions I recently applied for, I will have found the answer.

Spelling, Speling, Spelin

I can't spell... in any language.

As anyone who reads, writes, or speaks English will tell you, English spelling is a jumbled, illogical mess. Supposedly in German you spell things exactly the way you pronounce them... however, when your German pronunciation is only so-so, your spelling is also so-so. I know French too, but my spelling is no better there either.

When I was in eighth grade, my dad bought me a wonder of modern (ca. 1988) technology: The Franklin Spelling Ace. The premise is simple. You type in word like you think it should be spelled and if you are right, nothing happens. If you are wrong, it gives you a list of possible words to choose from. Sometimes if you grossly misspell a word it doesn't work, but manages it about 90% of the time. It was (and still is) a life-saver! It also happens to come in handy if you do cross-word puzzles because it has a feature where you type in something with missing letters and it give you choices... but I digress.

Now I am totally dependent on my spell checker. It is sad, but true. About half of the time when I write these blog entries I copy them into Word before I ever publish them.

But the problem is, when you can't spell people may make many assumptions that are completely inaccurate. The worst assumption they may make is that you are either stupid or functionally illiterate. And while this may be true in some cases, many times it is not.

But today seven members of the American Literacy Society delivered a message by protesting at the National Spelling Bee: "Enuf is Enuf!" they say. Advocating the modernization of English spelling, they claim that "English spelling is illogical. And the national spelling bee only reinforces the crazy spellings that lead to dyslexia, high illiteracy, and harder lives for immigrants."

And I koodn't agre more!

Tennis Anyone?

I play tennis. Not very often anymore, but I do.

I used to like to watch tennis. It started out back in high school when I first learned to play tennis. This was in the late 80s/early 90s and Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras had entered the scene. I was in love with Agassi because he had long hair (Yes, I know he is bald now, but seriously, he used to have long hair!) and was, at least for me, the ideal "tennis rebel."

The first match I watched between Agassi and Sampras was the 1993 Wimbeldon Quarter-finals. Though I didn't know much about Sampras at the time, since he beat Agassi, I vowed to hate him forever. But the more I watched tennis, though I was loyal to Agassi, Sampras began to grow on me. I realized that he was a great player and I began to admire him. For a decade I watched as many matches with these two players as I could and inevitably, my favorites were when they played each other.

I was a tennis fan and because the women also played at the Grand Slam Events, I also started watching them too. If I had favorites, they would have been Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport. Somewhere around 1998 I noticed this energetic American woman on the scene: her name was Venus Williams. And soon after, I noticed her sister, Serena.

At this time Agassi and Sampras were slumping a little and so I started having more fun watching women's tennis. However, somewhere along the way, Venus and Serena developed attitudes I didn't like and while Agassi is still chugging along, Sampras has retired. Occasionally I will catch a match, but tennis just isn't as fun for me anymore.

However, today I happened to catch a little bit of the Quarter-final match at the French Open between Capriati and S. Williams. Capriati has really managed to turn her career around in recent years and because I used to watch her when she first turned pro, I still like her. Coupled with the fact that I am not as fond of the Williams Sisters as I used to be, I was very happy to see Capriati make it to the Semis. Good Luck Jennifer. Here's to a win at the 2004 French Open!