So I’ve had much to say, but not much time or motivation to write them. I wanted to tell my tens of readers some endearing and adorable Maple stories, and I wanted to provide my tens of readers with pithy vignettes that demonstrate the mild culture shock and slight buzz that I feel being an “expat” and working at such an international place. And I hoped to do some expository writing on various topics such as Vienna, and meeting new people, and even blog about work.

But in the end, I’m left with some unattached, unrelated observations for you, the reader.

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I have only limited historical data on my family, but probably one of the best in my possession is the diary of my great-great grandmother on my father’s side. She was a simple country woman who wrote poetry and worked hard her entire life, which began with some difficulty: I, May Catherine McSpadden, nee Sisco, [...]

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Something tells me that Greeks, French, and British (just to name a few) might object to this assessment of the Jews: “We are up against a people who think. They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back but by thinking. They invented Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would [...]

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I have just discovered that the butcher shop I worked at in Germany, which is owned by my dear friend Alex’s family, has its very own web site! Guten Appetite! (Make sure and go to the Kontakt page and get some pictures of my past life)

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If you’re a Cat Power fan, and you go see them on this current tour, be sure and give a shout to my boy Colemen, who’s playing in the band. Nice one, Coleman! Chan (Cat Power) and Coleman, as well as Rob Mallard and a few other folks, are some of my idols and friends [...]

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Serbian Prime Minister Assassinated Wednesday, March 12, 2003 BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro – Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic—who spearheaded the revolt that toppled former President Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000—was assassinated Wednesday by gunmen who ambushed him outside the government complex, police sources said. Djindjic, 50, died in a Belgrade hospital after having been shot in the [...]

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I had just managed to put my bicycle chain back on and was giving the crank on my upturned Diamond Back the “check out” spins. The chain snapped into place, protested with a series of annoying creeks and cracks, and lurched comfortably into its place. I cranked harder and harder until I could go no [...]

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This article seems to have spun Mr. Sutton way up into the ceiling, so I thought I’d share it with everyone. The anti-Southern mythology seems to be gaining momentum and popularity. U.S. fixing ‘Southern bias’ at battlefields Monday, December 23, 2002 Posted: 1:13 PM EST (1813 GMT) GETTYSBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters)—The National Park Service has embarked [...]

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A little history tidbit to break up the day: Did you know that at the the time of the establishment of the Dual Monarchy (Austria-Hungary) in 1867 just less that one third of the population of the Empire was ethnically German? Defeat in the Seven Weeks’ War at the hands of Prussia and Italy brought [...]

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