Harry!

Ugh. Baddish day. First, my computer poops out. I don't think it is dead (I certainly hope it isn't), but the screen is black and so I can't tell if anything is going on inside. My poor Harry. I miss him greatly. And then the weather was wet and dreary so that Nidhal and I could not grill as planned. We still had a great dinner, but we were both disappointed that there was no grilling. The good part of today was that Barcelona won, 3-1 against Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League final. It was rough in the first 15 minutes, but then Barca stepped it up and put those Brits in their place. But the day was darkened by the absence of my computer. Hopefully, we'll be able to get it fixed on Tuesday.

One of These Days

I was looking through a travel book for Berlin. I had gone to Berlin on a class trip when I was in Germany and I was curious to see what I had seen and what else was there. Later, when I was looking at my pictures from the trip, I noticed that I had a picture of the exact flower featured in the travel book. How fun!

I like to imagine what I would do if I were exceptionally rich. One thing would be to start a non-profit organization to help the average Joe. Struggling with your mortgage or student loan repayment? Need a reliable car? We're here to help. There are programs for the very poor and opportunities for those who are deemed especially "worthy" of help. But what about someone who is just exceedingly normal who is in a tough spot? The name I chose was To Each According to His Needs. And then I was playing a game on Kindle last night that asked "Who said 'from each according to his ability to each according to his needs'". Well, that was of course Karl Marx. Great minds think alike? ...Or something like that?

Leslie is getting married and I can't wait to buy her a present!

I like Saliva, but none of their songs is better than "Always". "Always" just has it all. "Hate Me" is ok. "Nothing"... meh. The one about the cheating wife was pretty good.

Storms are nice. Being at home, watching the rain and the lightning, is both relaxing and entertaining. A few minutes ago, a cloud went by that was so dark, the inside of the house looked like it does right at the border of dusk and night. Now it's raining. I can see the water streaming down the hill on the road behind our place. The sky has lightened, but it's still pouring and thundering.

A Lesson In Contentment

Oh, it was painful. Nidhal and I need a new car. Our car is old, has way too many miles on it, and has problems. We found a superb car for a great price. It was really a good deal. Really, an excellent deal. Almost half the price it should have been. And we could've done it. We really could've taken the cash to the dealer and bought the car on the spot. And we almost did it. We took a test drive and fell in love. We had the cash in hand. But then we stopped and realized that, in doing this, we would have maximum $2000 to live off of for the next four months after paying the rent. (This is assuming the worst, that no jobs come through and that we don't win the lottery). So we had to call it off. If we had had $1000 more (that didn't need to be paid back immediately), we could've bought the car and felt good about it. But, our finances as they are, we made the smart decision and passed up a truly amazing deal. We have to be content with what we have. After all, our old car is still running. However, if anyone wants to give us an interest-free loan... ;)

Birds!

We have been watching a blue jay nest outside our kitchen window for a few weeks now. A few days ago, we noticed that the blue jay that had been sitting in the nest constantly was now hopping around in the tree. We watched as the blue jay hopped up to the nest and multiple little beaks and heads popped up begging for food.

ظلم و طغيان

How old is Vanna White? She's been around forever, but she doesn't look old.

There is a blue jay's nest outside our kitchen window.

"The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;
But a tyrant spell has bound me
And I cannot, cannot go."

"What studied torments, tyrant, hast for me?
What wheels, racks, fires? What flaying, boiling
In leads or oils? What old or newer torture
Must I receive, whose every word deserves
To taste of thy most worst?"

Tyrant - from the Greek tyrannos or turannos.

"In the exact sense, a tyrant is an individual who arrogates to himself the royal authority without having a right to it. This is how the Greeks understood the word 'tyrant': they applied it indifferently to good and bad princes whose authority was not legitimate."