Amelie, Jr.

L, we have to get ourselves one of these! We'll probably need to learn French though (and find out how to get bigger eyes).

Pack Rats

Our things from HK finally arrived two weeks ago. 

Seeing how many things we've accumulated over the years is an argument for socialism.

What I Read Last Week

Hooray for Spanglish speaking Geek-dom!

Great read.

I Need Illumination

I was reading this article in the New York Times about how the world overwhelmingly preferred an Obama win, and I was a little shocked to discover that the only countries in the world that preferred a McCain victory were Israel, Georgia and the Philippines.

I understand Israel and Georgia, but the Philippines?!? The Philippines?!?

I don't get it. Was it:

•  McCain's tax plan (the Philippines already uses Obama's preferred system - progressive taxation - which is required by our Constitution)?
• Obama's youth (many of our Congressmen are under 40)?
• the Republican preference for smaller government (even if we blame government for many of our social problems, which evinces a preference for a big, welfare type government)?
  
• abortion, stem-cell research, gay unions (okay, I understand the opposition to this given the predominantly Catholic population, but it never affected support for Clinton or the other Democrats)?
• personality (they prefer the folksy, small town America McCain/Palin public profile)?

I have good friends from back home who wanted McCain to win, and the reasons they gave were good and on principle - lower taxes, small government, entrepreneurship. I have a feeling though, that a majority of the Filipinos (those who preferred a McCain victory) would not have been able to articulate it as well as my friends did, and would most likely have preferred McCain for one, far less simple (and sinister) reason, which I am afraid to write down explicitly.

Do let me know what you think. I haven't been home in four years, so I may be completely in the dark about prevailing sentiments.

The West Wing and my unique thoughts

My obsession with following the US presidential elections waned somewhat three weeks ago, only to be replaced by a similar obsession with The West Wing, all seven seasons of which I watched in the succeeding three weeks. 

After watching the last episode last night and while preparing dinner, I was mulling over how best to blog about my almost certainly unique observations on how eerily close the West Wing was to the current US presidential elections. 

Then I saw this, this and this.

The New York Times, The Guardian and Jimmy Smits stole my thunder. Boo. 

Parents In (and out of) Town

My parents were in town last week to visit, and because this is Europe, we planned an out of town trip to Paris.

L was out of town on business, and so my parents had to depend on my map reading skills (or lack thereof). Fortunately Paris is lovely wherever you go, and getting lost a couple of times wasn't so bad.

We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast near the Opera, the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay. I know you've all seen tons of pictures of Paris, but here are some of them anyway:

The Arc De Triomphe

Walkway to The Louvre 

The Opera

The Eiffel Tower and Hello Kitty

Facade of The Notre Dame Cathedral (at least part of it)

Escargot

Baglover, here's one for you - le mothership:

We also went to Delft, known for being well preserved (the buildings haven't changed for the most part since the thirteenth century), Delftware and where Vermeer lived his entire life. Here's a nice picture of the Nieuwe Kerk:

Thanks for visiting, Papa and Mom. It was wonderful spending time with both of you. Let's do that again soon.

Feminism, then and now

Not that this should be an indication of how my life is these days, but I totally get why Emma Bovary turned out the way she did.

Apparently, so does Kate Winslet. 

Book pick of the week: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. 

Movie pick of the week: Little Children, directed by Todd Field.