News Update From The Condo

Despite all that seems to be going on in this part of the world , thank you God , things are pretty calm and peaceful here in Libya.So far no shortages of anything that  is imported .It's just the same ole same ole here . It's all good .

Moe and I have had a rather lazy month . Hanging out around the apartment , going on slow leisurely drives around town now and then .Watching movies on TV and in general doing nothing much other than what is urgent , like washing some clean underwear when needed , lol .A vacation of sorts .

I decided to begin the new year in a more relaxed way than last year , so took a vacation off from the computer , Facebook , the blog, and sending emails , flooding my poor family and friends mail boxes . At first the withdraw was hard .I felt like I was cheating on my computer by watching so much TV .Then with each passing day it became easier , until I almost had to force myself to turn on the computer today to write to my family and you .

So what have all of you been up to this year ? Is it going well for you ?Has 2011 lived up to expectations so far ?Have you started that new diet yet? Began the new exercise regime you talked about doing this year ?Cleaned out the hall closet ? All those 101 things we all say we will do in a new year and STILL never get around to doing ? Write and let us know what has happened in your life so far this year .Peace out , OTE

Painting by L.C.Neil, "Peace"

Modern Life

      When I bought my Blackberry I thought about  the 30-year business I ran with 1800 employees, all  without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos,  pictures and communicates with Facebook and  Twitter.  I signed up under duress  for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses,  13 grand kids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with  me in the modern way. I figured I could handle  something  as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of  space.

       That was before one of my grand kids hooked  me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie  and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that  sends every message to my cell phone and every other  program within the texting world.

       My phone was  beeping every three minutes with the details of everything  except the bowel movements of the entire next generation.  I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in  the garage in my golf bag.

       The kids bought me a GPS  for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now  and then going over to the grocery store or library. I  keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth  [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble  talking to my wife and everyone in  the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me.  I had to take my  hearing aid out to use it, and  I got a little loud.

        I mean the GPS looked pretty  smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget  was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a  long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say,  "Re-calc-ul-ating."  You would think that she could  be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a  U-turn at the next light. Then if I made a right turn  instead well, it was not a good relationship.

        When  I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the  name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she  loves me.

        To be perfectly frank, I am still trying  to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We  have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out  how I can lose three phones all at once and have run  around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms  and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

        The world is just getting too complex for  me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery  store. You would think they could settle on something  themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time  I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of  those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take them in with me.

        Now I toss  it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I  just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual."  Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank  look.

        I was recently  asked if I tweet. I answered, "No, but I do toot a  lot."

The Reconnection

Facebook is all about reconnection of old friends you thought might have been long lost . Here is a poster that expresses this sentiment so well !
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Life to Date

Hi ! It has been a while since I last wrote . One reason is Moe has suddenly decided I am spending too much time on the computer .That means the WHEN I DO get a chance to go on line , I am on longer than ever , trying to catch up on the mail , reading ( which I am so sorry to say I am MONTHS behind reading other blogs and have missed out on what my friends have been up to in their lives . All thanks to MOE !) , posting , Facebooking, and all that other jazz  I can only do in line .He doesn't " do computer" and has no interest in "doing computer " either , so that makes it harder for him to understand the WHY . This will pass. I just have to be patient and he will find a new project to keep him busy .

It is almost the end of the month . I am glade . We will get paid soon and I can go grocery shopping then . I need to start to stock up on stuff for Ramadan that is coming in about 3 1/2 months .Food prices have been steadily rising .  We bought a chicken that cost us 3 dinars last month . Yesterday the same size chicken cost us 7 1/2 dinars . Chicken is the cheapest meat here . What are the poor doing  for meat source ? Doing with out .Some food items were hard to find for a while .They are back on the shelves again .But need to buy them before they go AWOL again .The thing about living here is, if you see something today , it doesn't necessarily follow that you will see it tomorrow . So , you buy it if you can, when you see it . Supply and demand have a long lag period here .

I have been thinking about this new health care bill in the States . I am all for it , although I am not exactly sure what all it entails , the pros and cons . I know that sounds stupid . Consider this though , 1 child  living in a house in a American neighborhood  , with a child in every house ,will not have any sort of health care at ALL , because the parents can't afford it . Maybe the next door neighbors kid will be covered by insurance, and the 2 kids next door to them will have some sort of insurance , but then the house on the other side of them will not  have insurance, for the same reason as the 1st child .1 in 4 kids will have to figure out what to do if they break their arm playing outside because they can't go to the hospital for treatment. They have no insurance . 1 in 4 kids will have no insurance to go to the doctor if they get pneumonia . They will probably die .1 in 4 kids ,that is too many .No more will a insurance company be able to cancel your insurance policy, OR refuse to sell insurance to a person because of the dreaded " PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS" policy that exists up until now .How wonderful is that ?? To know that you can still be covered by insurance if you need it , as in the case of so many cancer patients .

The Republicans started a scare campaign , along with the insurance lobbies to try to stop the bill . Thank God they failed .There will be the good and the bad from this new health care bill, but all I know is this is the most momentous bill in both houses since the Civil Rights bills in the 1960's . And the Welfare / Social Security bills of the 1940's . Both were predicted to be the end of the world  , the end of America . They weren't . They were the making of America .This is of the same caliber . England is doing just fine with it's health care system . As a matter of fact , I had a American friend living here in Libya, go to England to have cancer treatment because Libya didn't offer what they needed and America was too expensive and unobtainable because of no insurance ... pre existing condition .

Something else on my mind , not nearly as heavy ,but equally difficult to understand , is people I have recently re-connected with on Facebook, that I haven't been in contact with in over .... well, many years, let's just say ,lol, are so blown away by the fact that I am living here in Libya , married to a Libyan , raised our children here ,and I have become a Muslim . As IF  I have become a alien from outer space or something . I am asked the strangest questions .Their imaginations have run wild . I am waiting for some one to ask me if I ride a camel instead of driving a car , lol .That just goes to show you several things . One, that the way Libya has been portrayed over the years by the Western media is biased , slanted , and incorrect in many ways .That isn't to say history isn't history , but rather there is HISTORY , and then there is HISTORY . Perspective is everything .With the advent of the internet , things should be easier to learn about and to see , if a person takes the time to investigate .Propaganda is rampant all over , so one must use common sense and a sieve to find the truth sometimes on any subject .Of course I can't really blame them for the misconceptions they have because of the things the the radical Muslims have been doing to gain  negative press coverage in the news .The assumption is that All MUSLIMS , i.e. all Arabs ( LIBYANS ) are terrorist .

Smaller things are bothering me , like why can't I get YouTube on my computer any more ? I have reset my settings , done this and did that . Nothing . I miss YouTube  a lot . I guess I will no longer  be able to post music on my blog .Really hate that ! I am gaining weight again . Yeah , I KNOW what to do about that , sigh , but have a hard time doing it ! Need to get to Sheila's and have her cut my hair short since it is getting warmer. AND I want to complain about the mosquitoes problem we are having around the Condo . I bought a bug insecticide that plugs into the electrical wall outlet . It works . Yeah ! Only problem ... it gives me asthma . It made Patches La Chat ill as well . I didn't plug it in tonight . So far , so good . May not need to use it all the time .

Oh yeah , the next time you hear about a country that is in a "CIVIL WAR" , think genocide . Civil war is just a nice way of saying " ethnic cleansing " no matter what they call it . Also , " Human Trafficking Day " was yesterday .Human trafficking ? Just call it what it is ... slavery . This is 2010 and slavery is still rampant ALL OVER THE WORLD ! OMG !!! I know there is some other stuff I wanted to get off my chest but my mind goes blank right now. I guess that let's you off the hook for now . No more moaning and groaning from me for a while.Am going to bed to think of something positive to write about next time .Ciao !

Artist unknown but painting named " Dizzy" .

Chaos At The Condo On The Seaside

Things here at the Condo are beginning to return to normal after several weeks of definite chaos and confusion .  Yeah !!!!!!! That stuff gets old real quick !

A few short minutes ago we got the phone lines repaired and working . Yippee !!! They were cut when we had the electrician over rewiring the Condo's building this past week . That was after we had gone with out electricity for a week , hum , maybe longer??? It just seems like forever to me . No phone ( can you believe I am COMPLAINING ABOUT THAT ???? LOL ) and no lights except sporadically . That means no laundry , no baths ,or showers ,no computer ( that was the worst !!! ) , no emails , no posting on the blog !Talk about living in a vacuum .No news , no gossip, no music .. just no anything . Ok in the daylight hours, but a real bore at night . And cold too since there isn't any heat either . We did have some great rain though one day last week .Loved that !

I have a confession to confess to you .I have given in and joined Facebook. Yes , I know what I said about it and that just goes to show you what a hypocrite I am .LOL ! I have no idea what I am doing there or even WHY , to tell you the truth. I have invited people to be my friends that I only have a vague recollection of from way back in High School, or even as far back as Jr. High. OMG !Does that look too desperate , or what? I don't know about me anymore . I am a little worried about me now . LOL ! Oh well , I am living on the EDGE now baby, hahahaha ! I can't wait to see what I do next .I am surprising myself .I will keep you updated on that and how it works out .

My baby will be 30 years old tomorrow . I really don't know where all those years went .I remember the doctors shocked voice telling me I had a baby girl . He was so sure I was having a boy . I kept telling him I wasn't but ,he wouldn't listen to me .I mean , what did I know about anything ? He was the DOCTOR , after all .Then he was almost speechless when it turned out she had red hair on top of it all , lol . He was Arab and I was speaking to him in Arabic while delivering the baby . The nurse thought I was delirious and wanted him to sedate me .The doctor told her I was just fine, but speaking to him in Arabic LOL ! I remember telling the labor nurse that I didn't want to have this baby after all , that I had changed my mind , when I went into hard labor . She just laughed at me and said it was a little too late for that! LOL !

So , this is what I have been up to this last few weeks . Typical chaos in the Condo By The Seaside , what else would you expect ? LOL ! Here's hoping your last couple of weeks have been much better than mine , OTE .

Are You A Friend?

Facebook , who hasn't heard of it by now ? Do you have a account ? Are you a friend ?I have managed to avoid it so far , just as I have managed to not own a cell phone . I can live with out both ,but can you ? I read the following post on Mental_Floss blog in which the different types of "FRIENDS " may be found . So funny !

A) The Overzealous Updater

This is the friend who can’t go half a day without sharing What’s On His Mind. Honestly people. We really don’t need to know that you’ve just had your second shower of the day. For that matter, we didn’t need to hear about the first one either.

B) The Link-bot

This is the friend who does nothing but share links all day. Links to articles he’s read that he thinks the whole world should be reading, links to movie reviews, links to new games coming on the market, links to his Twitter page where he’s gone and posted 10 more links. There needs to be a limit. Some links are good, especially when they send people to this blog. But let’s impose a 2-link-max rule per day, what do you say?

C) The Groupie

This is the friend who has joined more groups than Marcia Brady did that one year in high school when she was overcommitted and frazzled. Asian Americans in Israel who Support Diplomacy with Iran? Really?

D) I Am My Kids

This is the friend who only uses Facebook to post photos of the little ones, or updates that read: “Tommy didn’t feel well today, so he stayed home from school.” Might as well not even have your own profile, just create one for the kid(s), no?

E) Spies (who used to) Like Us

This is the Ex who only friends you so s/he can spy on you and make sure you have fewer friends that s/he does, and that your new significant other is less attractive than s/he was.

F) The Wanna-Be

This is the person who friends someone with the great hope of becoming friends with that person in real life, be it a minor celeb, or just someone the Wanna-Be really admires from a slight distance.

G) The Two-facer

This is the friend who accepts your friend request just to be polite, but then Hides your updates immediately. Unfortunately, you have no idea who the two-facers are.

H) The Networker

This is the friend whose main purpose on Facebook is to build a list he can tap when he needs to for work/career. You know these friends because they only message you with e-mails that read “So you still over at Viacom?”

I) The OverPoker

No need to explain this one, right?

J) The Get-A-Lifer

This is the hardcore friend who has nothing better to do but subscribe and follow you via SMS.

K) The Attention Seeker*

This is the friend who posts status updates that are purposely vague, and therefore beg for a comment. Their status is all about getting you to respond, getting attention, getting sympathy. “Lori is scared, but hopes everything works out…” [*sent to me by my friend Dawn, who is definitely an M... see below]

L) The Over Suggester

Just stop. Okay? Let me figure out who I want to be friends with, okay? Honestly.

M) The Good Friend

This is the friend who mercifully doesn’t fit in any of the above categories and is, hopefully, just one of many normal, average facebookers you’ve friended. Let’s hear it for the Good Friend!

{Honorable mention: The Foodie — this is the friend who’s always posting updates with photos of plates of food}

{Favorite quote overheard when a friend of a Friend got a new Friend on FB — “Ah man, I’m now friends with my dad… Jesus.”}