March 13, 2013

Some random thoughts for today.

The Baby In Car stickers seem to be multiplying.  I saw one this morning that said 'Bike Rider In Car'.  After a quick shake of the head, and maybe a thought that it would be better if it said 'Bike Rider Under Car', I looked at our rig and wondered what the locals think of my sticker declaration.

And if you are going to apply a sticker to your car, put it on the window and not on the paint.  As with a tattoo, you will not be able to remove it without leaving a mark.

Between school and home, we walk past this "store" that is full of random stuff.  You see these little holes in the wall around town that are very similar to a garage sale or privatized Salvation Army.

 

Never understood why they called them 'flea markets', but am now willing to make a guess.  They typically have used clothes, shoes and other reclaimed treasures and are always manned by the scraggly old proprietor, often times with the long mole hairs.  Had never gone into our local, and as I was walking home from school with Carolyn last night, decided to put our head in the door since we had a couple free minutes.  We made a hasty retreat as it was more depressing on the inside than it looks on the outside, and as we were walking away, Carolyn said "nice crap shack".

Quick non sequitur.  I've always thought Copernicus was a cool name.

With the local English language community center, I took a tour of our local Traditional Market (Shi Dong) the other day.  I go there a lot as it is a block from home and the meat and veggies are fresh and relatively cheap.  Even though I'm there 4-5 times a week, the tour was great as the lady that led it helped explain what some of the local produce is and how to prepare it, and also pointed out some cool shops that I had always walked past, but will now be going to regularly.  A great find was the independent coffee guy who is passionate about his brew, and was far better at half the price than the coffee shop I have been patronizing.  Here is my new friend.

There is also this crazy smoothie stand that I have started sampling.

The leader in the clubhouse is The Health 5 Vegetable.  Haven't caught what the 5 veggies are, but there is no milk or sugar added and it's quite good.  Too good to really be healthy.

 

I made a pot comment about the Herbage Stem Juice offering that a couple of the old dopers in the tour group thought was funny.  And I have got to know what is in the Deluxe Juice that makes it "not for pregnancy"

My favorite moment of the trip was when the tour lady showed us the local zucchini's.  She said they are smaller than what we find in the west, but the Chinese like them smaller.  Insert your own penis joke here.

 

I was having an email exchange with a buddy in Seattle whose son and Paul grew up together, played on the same soccer team with us for years, etc..  He was telling me that the kid isn't playing soccer this season and is running track instead.  The boy is a very nice athlete and thought that track was a curious move for him as he was so talented with hand-eye coordination, and that since he doesn't have a typical runners build, that he would be wasting his talents running in circles.  The dad was also mystified at his 14 year-olds decision, but alluded that a girl might be involved.  As soon as I heard that, I flashed back to a 'young me' in 1981 trying out for the Arcadia High School Cross Country team.  I was just like this kid with good coordination with even less of a runner's body, but there was a girl on the team that I liked a lot.  That was probably the worst semester of my life.  I hated every second of training 5-10 miles a day in the smoggy SoCal heat, only to completely suck on race day.  And never did catch up to that girl.  Coincidentally, Young Me is the hottest Taiwanese pop star going.

Finally, these are for my Steely Dan loving friends.

Can you hear me doctor?