New Seven Wonders Contest

This might be the type of thing that only a Middle School Social Studies teacher could get into, but if you haven't heard, there is a new contest to pick the new Seven Wonders. It seems, only 6 of the original 7 have not been destroyed by earthquakes or fire (and good riddance, who gives a shit about the Temple of Artemis anyway?), and so we're going to get all democratic and vote in 7 new ones.

Here are a few things I'm keeping in mind when making my selections

1. It should be old

2. It should have major wow value

3. It should be unique

4. If you can be seen from space, you are automatically in

5. Being a symbol of a country is not enough to get in

6. Being mysterious helps, but is not enough to get in

There are 21 to pick from, and here is my opinion of the 8 I've been to.

1.Machu Picchu: Definitely in. Ruins plus mountains plus mysterious origins = first ballot wonder

2.Colosseum: I could see arguments against this, but I was just obsessed with it. I think it helps that an entire modern city is occurring around it.

3.Alahambra: On the fence, but leaning to it. It was ten years ago, but I remember incredible tiles and there just being a lot of it.

Chichen Itza: On the fence, leaning away. I saw it on a family trip, and I think seeing sites with my family may have made me more passive in taking it in, but I don't remember being wowed. But the picture looks pretty damn cool. Sister, what did you think?

Eiffel Tower: Nope.

Acropolis: Nope. Great location, but didn't stand out to me from the 5 billion other ruins there (was that a travel snob statement?) I'd take Knossos over the Acropolis

Stonehenge: No. Only a mystery. Really not that great.

Statue of Liberty: No way. Please don't let this make it.

Ones I would add

4. Great Wall of China

5. Easter Island: more than just a mystery. Those things just look crazy amazing.

6. Pyramids of Giza: Grandfathered in

7. Petra: Pictures of it look extremely cool.

World Trivia

Just got the Economist's World in Figures 2007, which ranks every country on just about everything (curious which country has the highest cereal production? It's in there!). But there's some interesting info in there. Below, is a quiz of sorts. See if you can figure out who the top country is (no cheating Miguelito). I'll post the answers early next week.

1. Highest Obesity Rate For Men

a. United States (5th)

b. Lebanon (1st)

c. Panama (4th)
d. Wisconsin

2. Biggest Smokers
a. United States (not in top 20)

b. South Korea (20th)

c. Greece (1st)

d. Japan (4th)

3. Biggest Beer Drinkers
a. United States (8th)

b. Germany (2nd)

c. Ireland (Not in top 23)

d. Czech Republic (1st)

4. Spends highest % of GDP on Defence
a. United States (23rd)
b. North Korea (1st)

c. Switzerland (Not in top 23)

d. Myanmar (4th)

5. Spends highest % of GDP on health care
a. United States (1st)
b. Switzerland (2nd)
c. Congo (lowest)
d. Cuba (Don't know)

6. Highest Divorce Rate
a. United States (2nd)

b. Aruba (1st)

c. Belize (tied for lowest)

d. Columbia (tied for lowest)

7. Cleanest Air
a. United States (not in top or bottom 25)

b. New Zealand (9th)

c. Uganda (1st)

d. Gary

8. Highest Quality of Life

a. United States (10th)

b. Niger (worst)

c. Sierra Leone (second worst)

d. Norway (1st)

Temp Jobs

So I was going into Hollywood Video tonight to get my latest installment of Lost (I am a new addict) and I ran into this guy I worked on a temp job with a while ago. The meeting was fairly random, and after we said our goodbyes, 2 things stood out to me.

The first thing, is that I am so happy that now when I run into someone randomly, we can catch up and then just go our separate ways, without that whole fake let's-hang-out-some-time thing. I mean, we've never hung out before, why would we now 7 years after working w/ each other? We wouldn't, and I appreciate that as I get older I'm tending to do this more and more with the run-ins, "Hey, nice to see you, I'm sure we'll run into each other again. Later."



The other thing that stood out was what I remembered about this guy: he had worked the best temp job ever. The temp job we worked together was pretty good, probably my favorite. We sat at a big table, could shoot the shit, and measured shoes for Adidas (specifically, we found out what percentage was synthetic, textile, or leather). But for him, this was small potatoes. One day we were comparing temp jobs, and it came out that he had spent a day testing emergency slides from planes. That's right. His job was to jump out of a plane and ride down one of those inflatable slides.



So readers, can you best that? Or come even close? I'll start the list at 2, but feel free to try to crack the list of BEST TEMP JOBS EVER!!!!

1. Beer Taster

2. Inflatable Plane Slide Tester

3. Bra Salesman (tie)

3. Shoe Measurer (tie)

3. Bong Assmebler (tie)

Things That Bother Other People That I'm Fine With

1. Talking On Cell Phones While Driving

Well I haven't gotten into an accident yet, and even if I do, how can you be sure that was from my cell phone? People get into accidents all the time. And what else am I supposed to do on my commute home? It now takes me upwards of 45 minutes to get home. It gets friggin' boring and now I get all of my calls out of the way. Why else have a cell phone?

2. Athletes Making Millions

I guess I'd rather that money being diverted to public servants and social workers, but if the 2 destination spots are rich old white owners and the players, I'm totally fine with the players getting paid. And why don't people complain as much about other under worked millionaires, like actors or John Rockefeller XV? Athletes are people too!!!

3. Reality Shows

Reality shows freakin' rock and I don't want to hear about how much they've dumbed down TV. You obviously must have watching Masterpiece Theatre while I was hooked on Alf and Mr. Belvedere. And they're only getting better. Wife Swap? Ingenious. The White Rapper's Show (Thank you EMHO)? Utter brilliance (and, btw, John Brown should have won. Although Car Wars was a pretty lame finale...).

4. Babies crying on planes

Any annoyance I start to feel is completely overwhelmed by how sorry I feel for the parents. I cannot imagine anything worse than being stuck on a plane with a baby I can't calm down.

Pet Peeves #10 - #12

Pet Peeves #1 - #3
Pet Peeves #4 - #6
Pet Peeves #7 - #9


10. Germ detectives
It really gets on my nerves when someone gets a cold and they blame a specific person every time. "Oh that Wendy was sniffling the other day, and look what happened. Thanks a lot Wendy." Okay, I totally suck at science, and I realize if someone sneezes on you, you're more likely to get sick. But I also think there's like billions of germ swirling around our breathing space all the time and you just sometimes get sick and sometimes you don't.

11. Rewards Cards
All those stupid buy 10 Subway sandwiches and get one free. Like I don't have enough to worry about? Now I have to keep track of 30 different punch cards. And does every supermarket do a rewards thing now? I am totally suspicious. Granted, I also resisted getting miles for air travel and wife signed us up and we already have a free trip. Fine, but Fred Meyers points? What am I missing? My free macaroni and cheese? This seems totally like a plot to keep me shopping at just 1 store.

12. Tupperware
Just in general. I hate that the tops get all malformed and then won't fit on. I hate that they totally inspire keeping shit you'll never eat. And I hate trying to fit them in the drawer they never fit in.

Road Rage

I am very proud to say, I had my first bout of road rage last night. For those who know me, this is very out of character. The closest I've ever been before is being next to Petrovich while he was yelling at someone. But now I've had my very own car-screaming experience.

All right, here's the situation. I was at an intersection that was more crowded than usual b/c of a lane closure. I was letting in an SUV, who had gotten trapped in the closed lane, and was giving him some space, due to his largess. Well, the mother fucking cunt bag behind first honks and then when I don't move forward, actually bumps my car!!!!!

I was furious and instantly was yelling and swearing at him with crazed motions (he couldn't hear me, but still, he could feel my anger!). To make things weirder, we were barely moving, so after I finished my rant, his car was still there and not going anywhere. Now I had a decision to make. Should I (a) Go kick his ass, (b) Go talk to him, or (c) Let it go. After a few moments of stewing, I went to talk to the fucker.

I'm sure there are various parallel universes out there where I would have been beaten to a pulp. But in last night's version, it ended up being a good idea and went like this:

"Did you just bump my car?"
"Yeah, I'm totally sorry. I really didn't mean to."
"Well I thought you were mad for me not moving."
"Yeah, and I was trying to get you to move forward, but I really didn't want to hit your car."

At this I was totally satisfied. And more so, realizing that if I hadn't talked to him, I probably would've been bitter for years to come (like how I'm still mad about not saying anything to the guy who shushed me at music performance 3 years ago). So there's my story, how about you guys? Where are you on the road rage scale of 1 to 10? Any good stories? Feel free to add bike or pedestrian rage stories, I think you may have 1 or 2 Petro...