The Special People Club

Home at midnight after a long day at school and know I'm reading my globalisation case studies for tomorrow. Seems a great time to procrastinate by logging the first 10 out of the gate. 1. You Know I'm No Good - Amy Winehouse 2. I'm Diggin' You (Like An Old Soul Record) - Me'Shell Ndegeocello 3. Can't Help You Anymore - Sugar 4. Peaches - PUSA 5. Down To Zero - Joan Armatrading 6. I'm Using My Bible For A Roadmap - Bad Livers 7. Till the End of the Day - The Kinks 8. Here Come the Martian Martians - Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers 9. Chain of Fools - Aretha Franklin 10. Valley Winter Song - Fountains of Wayne

There are some seriously weird things on youtube. Like this. There's something very wrong about watching the Charlie Brown Kids while listening to the lyric, "Don't want to meet your momma...just want to make you (well you get the idea)."

Get a load of this....It is a rendition of "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" (from the Wales post below) played by a kind of creepy young woman on a uke that looks EXACTLY LIKE HOWARD. What are the chances???

I just had an in-the-mouth belch that sounding surprisingly like the start of "Modern Love" by David Bowie. I wonder if that's where he got his inspiration?

Sometimes you're sitting there engrossed in some economics essay wishing you were doing pretty much anything else, and then, from the depths of your iPod, comes salvation. I forgot this was even hiding in there.

I am such a badass.

The Ymwelwr is gone. The remainder of his trip was relatively basic...The Visitor had a lazy day on Monday while I was at work and then we had dinner at a Thai restaurant last night. I somehow felt like I'd made a huge breakthrough when he actually finished my entree. After all of this "used soup" business I was beginning to think he had psychological issues with food sharing, which I like about as much as grown-ups who are picky eaters. Dropped him off at the coachway around 6AM, with instructions to go see a doctor about that GI tract. It ain't right, I'm telling you. Mr. Morning Person tried to convince me that I should sing him on his way with a rousing Zip-a-dee-doo-dah this morning. Obviously, I declined...and held steadfast even while he hummed it under his breath the entire way to the bus with a goadingly devilish grin on his chirpy damn face. Freak. Now that I'm awake I thought I'd find it on youtube so I could pass it along here, but all the v...

Just arrived back from Wales. It was perfect weather. Sunny, blue, and relatively warm. I'd hoped to leave work early since we had a five hour drive ahead of us, but that went to hell by midday. Instead I left at 445, and managed to get myself home and packed by about 515. We stopped at the BP near the A5 to fill up the tank. Fortune was smiling upon us, and as we walked in to look for a flashlight and pay we were serenaded by The Smiths singing "There is A Light That Never Goes Out" , which is always a bit of serendipity, because it's just not that often you're going to hear that over the loudspeakers. All in all, we made good time. Around 930 we were hungry and I was skeptical that we would make it anywhere sane to eat before kitchens closed so I forced us to eat at a Burger King at the services. Bad decision. Not tasty, and gas-inducing - not a good thing with The Visitor. We made another stop at an ASDA near Swansea. We bought: A twelve pack of Tetley's Bi...

I have a visitor until Tuesday, and therefore there will be less blogging in that time frame. He arrived yesterday. Poor thing, had to ride National Express up from Gatwick. It is a long trip with many stops, but when people arrive on weekdays it is the price they pay. Luckily an elderly Chinese man sitting in front of him got carsick and barfed partway through the trip, so he appreciated the fresh air upon arrival in MK. We had dinner in the Indian restaurant in the church, a staple here for visitors. And it really freaked the waiters out when I did the ordering. That is the man's job. We barely got a "please" or "thank you very much" out of them as each dish was placed on the table. I worked today, so he spent the day in London. Last time he visited, he spent his day in London taking pictures of tourists taking pictures of famous sites, but this time he tried to take in a few himself. I know he went to the British Museum, and while it was enjoyable he was an...

I saw a commercial for this tonight. Please, God, tell me that this is synthetic milk, or soy milk or rice milk or some other kind of non-milky milk. Because if they're hooking little machines up to innocent kitties even I'm joining PETA. Or perhaps CP has found his new job! I bet it's great on cereal.

Check it out...two days in a row of cooking! Chopped a chili, grated some ginger, tossed it with a little sesame oil and soy and used that to marinate a tuna steak. (Little means little, FYI...don't kill the tuna.) Chopped up some baby bok choy , a scallion and a clove of garlic. Put some whole wheat noodles to boil. Heated the wok. Just a little oil in, then dumped in the tuna and the marinade. Seared it on both sides, then put aside to rest. Little more oil, stir fried the garlic and scallion for a second before adding the bok choy . Tossed in a little soy when it was almost done. (Little is key, again. Don't kill the bok choy.) Drained the noodles, tossed in just a few drops of sesame oil and then put noodles/tuna/veg in a deep plate. Sprinkled with sesame seeds and enjoyed.

One of the members of the House of Lords is trying to ban Muzak in waiting rooms and elevators because it raises blood pressure and makes people angry. What on earth will the masters of the pan flute do? Please don't let them march.

I have a bit of a crush on this guy. His name is Phil Spencer, and he co-hosts several property search shows on Channel4 with an equally dishy babe named Kirsty Alsopp. They're funny and smart and make a bit of fun of their clients' bad decisions in their narrative of the show. Phil is exactly what Americans expect the English to be...stylish, smart, kind of "proper" and a bit effeminate, which is usually not my bag anymore. But on Phil it is very, very sexy. He kind of reminds me of my friend J, actually, who I'd swear was gay if it weren't for the occassional blokey joke and his lovely partner who is decidedly female. (It's sexy on J too, but he is real and therefore not fanciable.) I blame El Ben for my love of vaguely gay straight men, but that is another story. Now that I have no pressing schoolwork, I've spent a total of six hours watching Phil (and Kirsty) find houses for England's masses. My conclusion? Hubba Hubba. And if I were to ev...

After my fast start to Fish Some Day or Another, last week was too dang busy to really cook. My fish day was sushi from M&S because it was fast and easy. And frankly, I didn't feel like cooking this weekend, either, so I ordered takeaway and ate ready meals and whatever else I could find hiding in my fridge and cupboard. So tonight I decided I was going to cook if it killed me. I had quite a few vegetables that I needed to use, and I have likely not met my 5 a day in the last few so it seemed like a good idea to make something full of planty byproducts to catch up. Here's what I did: Congolese Eggplant Curry Start the brown rice . Chop up an eggplant , salt it to make it weep and then give it some alone-time. Smash two cloves of garlic , chop up two chilis (seeds and all), chop two large onions and grate about a thumb's knuckle worth of ginger root . Chop up about three cups of cauliflower , a yellow pepper and some mushrooms . Open a tin of tomatoes and a can of...

It is incredibly cold here. A week ago, the daffodils and the crocuses were popping and the trees were budding. But now it's been a blustery couple of days. Yesterday we had blue sky, sleet, hail, snow, rain and 70 mph wind gusts all within an hour, and then it repeated twice. Tonight it was snowing when I left work, and the daffodils in my front garden had lovely large flakes clinging to their edges. Three of you are on your way to England in the next few weeks, so be sure to check the weather forecast and come prepared. It could be warm, it could be cold. It will likely be wet. And it will definitely be expensive, but you knew that. And Bramley AP, be prepared to laugh heartily, as it is supposed to be snowing on Wednesday which means snarled traffic for barely a dusting as you sit on the M1 on your ride to MK.

Not only have the swans NOT left the pond for the season, but the spiders are coming out in force with the warmer days. Is there no God?????

It was a busy weekend at school. As I've mentioned, I had a lot of things due...a paper on Friday and a large group project on Saturday. I hadn't had much sleep the last few days of last week, so I was tired and cranky on Friday morning. Made it to my 8:30 AM class, though, so that was a good start. At 11, we had a meeting for our International Business Experience, and for those of us going to Cuba we had a special visitor...the Cuban Ambassador to the UK and his wife were coming to meet us! How cool is that! His Excellency gave us what can only be called an oration about Cuban life, Cuban history and Cuban American relations. (FYI, when he tells it we are not the heroes.) His wife, a lovely woman who was in the front row listening attentively, would occasionally make exclamations in support of what he said. It was kind of like a storefront church call and holler dynamic, but more political. It was very serious, economics-focused stuff. Really thought provoking. And then ...

Other useful facts about a deep puncture wound in the palm of your hand: 1) The nerves under your life line seem to control your ability to grip things, and run down the side of your hand to the inside of your wrist, thus limiting your hand motion considerably. 2) I own this shampoo , which is a lovely tapioca-pudding-like consistency, but with sea salt crystals creating that bumpiness. FYI, Sea Salt Shampoo + Puncture wound in hand = Not Good. Not Good = Screaming in Shower. Screaming in Shower = Letter Carrier knocking on the door to be sure you're okay.

My right palm bears two distinctive puncture marks, making my whole hand a bit numb and tingly. (Not to mention stinging in pain.) a) Did I hear a knock on my door, think it was the Ocado man, open it to invite the caller in, only later to realise it was a vampire who, though stronger than a normal man, was easily pushed back out because he fought like a girl, but who did manage to bite my hand while I was pulling his hair? OR b) Did I Accidentally stab myself in the hand with a fork while unloading the dish drainer? Hint: The offender was suspended in my hand against gravity, and had to be pulled out at some resistance.

I finished my ENT spreadsheets for our company financials...9 pages of interlinked financial planning assumptions, all culminating in a four-year cash flow and profit and loss account that show us making a lot of money. Although I think my ears bled from the pressure of developing it, now that it's done I can spend hours fiddling with numbers so I can watch the changes cascade throughout the workbook. It's mesmerizing, noticing that 10 extra people a night per store do astronomical things to our overall profit, or that 30% fewer people buying from us will send us into a tailspin. I'm like a cat with something shiny. Who cares if then numbers are correct? They're so pretty when you manipulate the formulas.....

I really wanted chinese food for dinner and I didn't want a gloopy takeaway. So I rummaged through the house and decided that I'd make some sort of stirfry . Which then morphed in my head into soup. But I'd started the rice, so I had to get creative. Here is the result. Hot and Sour Chicken Soup with Rice Put some brown rice, some water, and a chicken stock cube in a pan and start boiling it. (I think I used about 1/2 cup of rice and two cups of stock.) Smash two cloves of garlic, chop an onion, chop a red chili (seeds and all) and grate about a thumb of fresh ginger. Chop up some baby bok choy , greens and all. Chop up some mushdogs . Slice a chicken breast into mouthsize pieces. Open a can of bamboo shoots. Okay. Now heat up a soup-holding pan, add some oil (healthy not-olive), and toss in the garlic/onion/chili/ginger and two tablespoons of chili garlic paste you've purchased at your handy dandy asian market. Stir it around for a minute or two. Add the chicke...

The nice part about the second year of my MBA is that my electives don't require exams, per se , but instead have staggered assignments relevant to their individual topics/schedules. It's a lot easier to prepare for lectures because I only have four active courses right now instead of the six I had last year. And things don't follow a strict two-term format, so their peak times do not fall into several weeks out of 52, which means that you can pace yourself without too much trouble. There is one individual component (a paper or class test), and one group project for each, save OB which has two individual components since it has to do with personal development only. Now for the bad part...I now know without a shadow of a doubt that I'm in a Master's programme. Somehow all the structured learning of Part One seemed challenging but more a matter of endurance and taking it all in. Part Two is all about applied learning, which means a lot more thinking and a lot fewer...

I've avoided these tag things lately, but my brain is hurting from all the homework and I like this one, so I'm doing it. Here's someone's list of books. BOLD the books you have read, and Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave them as is if you don't care one way or the other. Make them blue if you've read them multiple times. Make them red if you would use them for toilet paper. 1.The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) 2.Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) 3.To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) 4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) 5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) 6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) 7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) 8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) 9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) 10.A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) 11.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) 12.Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) 13.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling) 14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John...

First ten out of the box as I work on my Entrepreneurship cash flow: 1. Lover's Rock - the Clash 2. Rabbit Fur Coat - Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins 3. Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution) - Elvis Costello 4. White Trash - SCOTS 5. By the Mark - Gillian Welch 6. Lost Love (Bacon and Quarmby Remix) - Rhinocerose 7. Touch, Feel, & Lose - Ryan Adams 8. Who Cares? - Gnarls Barkley 9. Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye 10. I Would Rather Do Without It - Michelle Wilson Come on, Michelle. He's MARVIN GAYE. Say yes.

For those who are phoners or skype-ers of me, I'd like to remind you that, from tomorrow through 24 March, we will have one less hour of time difference between the US and the UK, unless you're in Arizona, Hawaii or any of the colonies.

My friend Pam does Fish Wednesday, wherein she buys some fish, does some killer preparation, takes a picture of it and then eats her delicious meal, sometimes with her husband, sometimes with her friends, sometimes by herself. I've been to dinner at her house and let me tell you, she's a fine fine cook, that Pam, regardless of the meal. So I'm betting Fish Wednesday is fabulous. Since she lives in Seattle and I live in England, as much as I'd like to I won't be able to join her any time soon. But she's inspired me to try eating more fish, as well, and so I'm going to start logging my fish preparation here in my blog, because it will keep me honest since you'll notice if I don't come up with something. I'm not sure my schedule will be able to accommodate an official Fish Day, but I will try to fit it in at least once in a calendar week. As luck would have it, I was ordering from the Ocado Man and watching Nigella Lawson the other day. She wa...

Just stopped in to CNN to see what's going on in the world, and look at the video offering they have for me! Sick and wrong, I tell you. Who knew they were a porn site?

I love Marrakesh . I absolutely LOVE Marrakesh . After my busy week and weekend, I spent last Monday feverishly running around the house preparing for my trip. Threw a hodgepodge of summer weight clothing into my bag, selected two pairs of shoes for walking and one pair of nonsensical fashion shoes for evenings, and added all of my Entrepreneurship books so I could do homework while I was there. Had a fitful night's sleep, as I had to be up by 4AM to make the drive to Heathrow for my 8AM flight. Made it in plenty of time, and left England in the chilly mist...it was probably about 4C that morning, with intermittently heavy rain pelting down. (Not quite squally downpours, but close.) The flight wasn't full so I had a row to myself, which was great. Stretched out and took a snooze, and three hours later I was deplaning in the warm sun of Africa. Marrakesh has one of those tiny airports...no jet ways , just stairs to the tarmac and you walk to the double doors, where you sta...

I learned a new term, Chunder Bandit , from one of my new favourite blogs, ScaryDuck . And just in time, as I seem to have caught some sort of gastroenteritis . While I have not done any public vomiting today, I have definitely been closer than I'd like. I actually went to an absent colleague's desk and grabbed their rubbish bin to keep handy, just in case. Figured it would be better to puke in an empty bin than on top of the accumulated rubbish in mine. I am now home, and while I have a horrific amount of schoolwork to do, my head hurts and I don't like to sit upright, so it is likely that I'm going to go to bed shortly. Chunder Bandit. I think I'm going to name one of the AI contestants this. Maybe Sanjaya , because he is vomit-inducing. But so is Jared Cotter. In fact, Jared Cotter is DEFINITELY nastier than Sanjaya . Jared Cotter it is. Henceforth, Jared Cotter is christened Chunder Bandit, Inducer of Vomiting to the Masses.

I had a great time in Marrakech (and will blog about it over the weekend once I'm done with classes on Saturday,) but right now I'd like to download two frustrations that began and ended my trip. 1) I hate going to the airport early and coming back late. On Tuesday I had to leave the house by 5AM, and tonight I left Heathrow at 11PM. Both directions, it was just me and two hundred Polish articulated lorries. Talk about driving hell. 2) The worst part about flying is definitely the smell of airplane farts. I think it's the food they serve on planes combined with the air pressure. Since I first started flying I've noticed that a) people on airplanes are always gassy, and b) they create a stench that smells vaguely of day old Kentucky Fried Chicken. Think about that two hours after the meal on your next flight. To bed now. More soon.