Where do YOU work?

I don't know if you can see me in this picture but I'm on the far right in front of the gong.

Easter

So, I promised an Easter blog to Mrs. T... so here it is. Dyeing eggs is also traditional for Ukraine (almost MORE traditional I would say judging by the amount of painted-egg souveneirs that are sold all year). But, as "seen" in the second picture... they bang them together. I'm holding the orange egg and Dasha is holding red egg. As tradition goes, the one who's egg cracks has to do whatever the other person can think up. For those interested in who won:

I started counting (to three, obviously) and Dasha false started and cracked mine slightly. I called foul (I am an award winning demander of fairness {just ask Jared and the American Ledger}) and turned my egg around, counted to three and made her the crack-ee.

In the first picture is a gluten-free Paska. Real ones look a little different... they're a little bulgy and not caved in. But everyone buys these thingys and gets them blessed in orthodox churches...

There it is, Mrs. T. In a nutshell.

Happy Birthday!

It was yesterday (the 27th). But no time to post....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DASHA!!! 

Kyiv Cars

Vadim said it best: "It's a poor country... but there sure are a lot of rich people in it."

According to ukrstat.gov.ua, the 2005 average monthly income was approximately $140 a month... where are these cars coming from? 

Palm Sunday

So.. there was a request from Mrs. Taylor for a Ukrainian Easter blog. First things first: Ukraine celebrates all religious holidays by the Orthodox calendar. This past Sunday was Palm Sunday.

Ukraine doesn't have any natural palm trees (some have been shipped in to southern beach resort areas)... but they sure do have a lot of these things.

The first picture is in our church. As you can, the willow branches are in the vase. I don't know why they use these other than that they don't have palm trees.

The next two pictures are in front of St. Vladimir's cathedral. As you can see, the willow branches are sold in front of all the orthodox churches.

And the last picture is of Dasha with our 'thingys' (bought after church... mainly for the picture). Apparently, in the orthodox church, you are supposed to get the branches 'blessed'.

So... there it is, Mrs. T. Ukrainian Palm Sunday at a glance. 

Well, well, well... It's exactly four weeks until "Big Shelton Summer Wedding Number One". Still working on hitching a ride over for a week and a half.

Our best schemes so far have both involved Ben highjacking a plane and picking us up... (peacefully returning it, of course). I think Ben would do it, if he could somehow hide it from his parents (not that I condone that).

That's about as far as planning has gone...

P.S. At Vagabond Blog all major credit cards are now accepted.

Just when you think you've seen everything... 

A Tribute

 

Munchkins

Here are some pictures from the car ride to church with Dasha's parents and her foster brothers and sister.

Bob Dylan: American Poet

You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, "Who is that man?"
You try so hard
But you don't understand
Just what you'll say
When you get home

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

You raise up your head
And you ask, "Is this where it is?"
And somebody points to you and says "It's his"
And you say, "What's mine?"
And somebody else says, "Where what is?"
And you say, "Oh my God, Am I here all alone?"

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is Do you, Mister Jones?

You hand in your ticket
And you go watch the geek
Who immediately walks up to you
When he hears you speak
And says, "How does it feelTo be such a freak?"
And you say, "Impossible"As he hands you a bone

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is Do you, Mister Jones?

You have many contacts
Among the lumberjacks
To get you facts
When someone attacks your imagination
But nobody has any respect
Anyway they already expect you
To just give a check
To tax-deductible charity organizations

You've been with the professors
And they've all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks
You've been through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's books
You're very well read
It's well known

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is Do you, Mister Jones?

Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to you
And then he kneels
He crosses himself
And then he clicks his high heels
And without further notice
He asks you how it feels
And he says, "Here is your throat backThanks for the loan"

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is Do you, Mister Jones?

Now you see this one-eyed midget
Shouting the word "NOW"
And you say, "For what reason?"
And he says, "How?"
And you say, "What does this mean?"
And he screams back, "You're a cow
Give me some milkOr else go home"

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is Do you, Mister Jones?

Well, you walk into the room
Like a camel and then you frown
You put your eyes in your pocket
And your nose on the ground
There ought to be a law
Against you comin' around
You should be made
To wear earphones

Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is Do you, Mister Jones?

Happy Birthday to ME!

There it is... Dasha's present to me for my upcoming birthday! I love the hamster cheek design!

Crazy Go Nuts

This is incredible... a picture of the empire state building from googlemaps.com. You can see cars from space! Technology is nuts! You're seeing a picture of a building in New York, taken in space, loaded up to Google Maps, and then found on the internet... woh! But even more amazing is that you can scroll left, right, up, or down and see ALL OF NEW YORK (and other major cities) from the same distance. And all this is available to anyone with the internet!

After a couple days absence, I've been wondering. What makes a good blog? Can anyone tell me?

The Pistol

Dasha and I watched this tonight (Dasha saw it for the first time... it was my 20th or so). It's still tough to beat. Especially with lines like:

"What the heck is 'The Pistol', Dad?"

"It's a show business name, like... Houdini."

hehe

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,“It is well, it is well with my soul”

It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul)It is well, it is well with my soul

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,Let this blessed assurance control,That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!My sin, not in part but the whole,Is nailed to the cross,and I bear it no more,Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight,The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;The trump shall resound,and the Lord shall descend,Even so, it is well with my soul.

This is mostly for the parents (if they're reading). This is from a concert that I played in at the conservatory. Photography credits go to Dasha...

AMAZING!

A user on the BBC 606 message boards predicted Liverpool's stunning 7-0 win over Birmingham in the FA Cup.
The mystery punter, with the username "Messi better than cesc", posted their forecast at 1905 GMT on Tuesday - a full 40 minutes before the match started.
He or she not only got the score right but they also claimed:
There would be a goal in the first minute.
Three goals in the first half.
Four goals in the second half.
The sixth would be an own goal.
Djibril Cisse would score very late on.
They suggested the deadlock would be broken by Xabi Alonso with a 40-yard strike after 38 seconds.
In reality, Sami Hyypia opened the scoring with a header 17 seconds later.
The prediction that Birmingham would trail 2-0 inside 10 minutes was also correct, as was the claim that Cisse would score late on.
The user thought Cisse would out-run the Blues defence before slotting home.
In fact, Cisse's shot should have been saved by Maik Taylor, but the goalkeeper allowed the ball to squirm under his body.
Still, not a bad prediction, especially when you consider that "Messi better than cesc" only missed out on the time of the own goal by two minutes.
Oliver Tebily put the ball in his own net after 77 minutes - and not 79 minutes by Emile Heskey as he or she had suggested.
Had "Messi better than cesc" done their research better, they would have known that Heskey had an ankle injury and was not fit to play.
Nevertheless, the 7-0 prediction would have netted odds of 100-1 from bookmaker William Hill.
"Oddly enough, although we took a few bets of a fiver or less at 100/1 for the 7-0 result prior to kick-off, the biggest bets we took for the scoreline were placed during game via the internet," said Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe.
"One customer from Manchester staked £25 at 66/1 when the score was 3-0, and won £1650, while another from Cleveland picked up a profit of £1320 after betting £20. Overall, we lost a five figure sum on the outcome."
It is not known whether "Messi better than cesc" placed a bet on their forecast - but it certainly got the boards talking.
"Heskey" wanted to know what his or her lottery numbers were, while others requested racing tips.
Some even dared to chide the user for failing to predict the scorers in their correct order.
For those interested, the sequence of goals is shown below:

PREDICTION 38 secs: Alonso 40-yard strike 10 mins: Alonso again 22 mins: Crouch with a 40-yard header 46 mins: Reina scores from goal kick 77 mins: Carragher gets his first goal in three years 79 mins: Emile Heskey og 90 mins: Cisse out runs every Brum player to finish

REALITY 55 secs: Hyypia nods in the opener 5 mins: Crouch heads in 38 mins: The England striker makes it two with neat finish 59 mins: Morientes scores three minutes after coming on 70 mins: Riise smashes in from outside the area 77 mins: Olivier Tebily og 89 mins: Cisse's goal completes the rout

Story from BBC SPORT:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/football/4832776.stm

Life in the Amazon

Amazon.com is apparently changing some of it's search results. Before the change, if you typed 'abortion' in a search at Amazon you would see the question "Did you mean adoption?" followed by the results for the word abortion.

The question is part of a normal spell check system used by Google and other search engines.

Apparently someone actually E-MAILED and complained about it.

It amazes what lengths people will go to FOR abortion. It seems like such an indefensible position to me. I can ALMOST understand how people are confused about whether it is a woman's right. But it seems some people just want them dead and will go to great lengths to make sure babies don't make it.

Odd...