August 2008
Monthly Archive
Two Projects
Posted by gls on 24 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: Diary, House
First major project of this weekend: the deck.
Before:
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After cleaning and sanding:
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Second major project: recovering from installing Windows XP Service Pack 3. “Within hours of its release, Microsoft’s Service Pack 3 for Windows XP began drawing hundreds of complaints from users who claim the update is wreaking havoc on their PCs” I later discovered (source). That was in May, and apparently it’s still not fixed.
A half-project of taking our Jetta in for a flat tire fix provides a striking contrast. “Imagine if everyone provided service like that,” I said to K. “We’d go to pick up our car and find someone in the shop had opened the hood and taken a sledgehammer to the engine: it would look the same, but would never work again.”
Yet another mind-numbing example of the “mystery” of the Microsoft monopoly: crappy products that rule the world.
Dupont Forest
Posted by gls on 18 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: Travel
Dupont Forest is one of those places K has wanted to go for a long time, but time and circumstance prevented us. School, exams, life…we only last week made it to the state park.
Most notable: waterfalls.
Lower Falls
It’s a short drive from our place, but it seems like a different world. Cool mountain air, wonderful views — the perfect Sunday outing.
We weren’t the only ones to think that.
L and one calm horse
Sliding
At the top of the enormous rock down which kids were sliding was a covered bridge — I swear it looked bigger from the bottom of the falls.
The Girl didn’t seem to mind, though.
Talking
Posted by gls on 15 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: First words, LMS, Parenthood
The Girl has been talking more and more, though the developments are slow. She is, after all, learning two languages. She mainly favors English, but she does use a few Polish words, and as any child her age, she has some of her own inventions:
Polish Words
- dać
- uwaga
- tam
English Words
- hug
- socks
- shoe
- milk
- baby
- juice
- hot
- wet
- help
- more
- dog
- pizza
- down
L-isms
- “Ba-ba” is banana.
- “Moo-Moo” is her favorite cheese, aptly named as there’s a drawing of a cow on the package.
- “Meow!” is cat.
- “Shhhh” is sleep.
- “Sha-sha” is outside.
The budding bilingualism can lead to amusement.
When K went to pick L up from daycare, L’s now-good friend, J, helped L gather her things. It’s a daily occurrence, usually looking for “Baby.” L, however, has become particularly fond of a little teddy bear (”miś” in Polish) and that’s her daily companion.
K entered the room and immediately J, helpful as always, began running around the room, looking for the teddy bear, saying, “Misio! Misio!” And so our daughter is only 19 months old and already a language teacher.
On the way out, K told L she should say goodbye to the frog on the door mat.
“Powiedz ‘bye’ żabie,” K suggested.
“Bye, frog!” L responded.
Busy
Posted by gls on 13 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: Diary
School is starting up again. I’ve been moved to a new room, which means reorganization.I’m teaching new courses, including English I Honors — a high school class taught in eighth grade. Translation: bright, motivated students. Additionally, I’m coaching the girls’ volleyball team this year. And I’m going through my formal evaluation this year
In other words, no time. For this, or anything else.
Ideas abound; time doesn’t.
This and That
Posted by gls on 07 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: Music, Polska
Hania Chowaniec-Rybka was well known before she was famous. A singer who specializes muzyka goralska (the music the music of Podhale, the region spread beneath the Tatra Mountains), Hania had made a name for herself long before she was known outside the relatively small confines of Podhale.
Her album “i to, i to” (”This and That”) is a blend of jazz and muzyka goralska. When K told me about it and suggested we buy it, I cringed. Mixing goralski music with this or that genre is nothing new, but it’s seldom done well. Sometimes one style or the other stands out, but never at the sacrifice of the other. It’s music with integrity, in other words. So often, bands that mix Highlander music with anything else create nothing but a travesty, a mix in which bastardized forms of one music plays slave to the other. Sometimes it’s rock with a bit of muzyka goralska , but mostly its the goralska music that dominates. Or at least tries. Instead of sounding like a clever marriage it ends up like a bad date.
Hania’s mix of jazz and the styles of the Polish Highlanders bends both genres just enough to make an accommodating mix.
Here’s my favorite track from the album: “Ola boga.”
| Jo se jes dzieweczka Mam wesolo dusze Bez dzien moge robic Wieczor tanczyc musze. |
I’m just a little girl with a happy soul I can do without the day but I must dance at night |
| Ola boga swietego Co to komu do tego Ola boga swietego A kapela gra |
Oh dear God, it’s nobody’s business! Oh dear God, and the band’s playing! |
(Polish speakers: How would you have translated “Ola boga swietego” in this case? Nothing sounds right.)
“Worst organised Polish company”
Posted by gls on 06 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: Polska
scatts at Polandian has a horror story that sounds all too familiar to me.
My vote has to be given to the dearly beloved Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. or just TP as they prefer to be called these days. Admittedly, Poczta Polska provides tough competition for my vote with a strong performance in number of packages lost, sourpuss sales ladies and in worst queues, but my recent experience in trying to get Neostrada in the new home proves that it is going to take truly world-class incompetence levels for anyone to take the top slot away from TP.
(And the Polandian award for worst organised Polish company goes to… « Polandian).
While I never had to deal with TP (appropriate acronym), I did have a similar experience getting offical state permission to marry K.
Polish bureaucracies have an obsession with exact documentation. And stamps.
