Enjoy the video. You need high speed to enjoy it.  More tomorrow!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Seems there are issues in the USA?  The luster surrounding Sr. Obama seems to be diminishing? Here are a some videos that you might enjoy! This might help distract you from the real issues up there.

NOTE: These may have “R” ratings (depending on what you consider to be “R”.

Here, our president tries again to get in touch with the common man by visiting Dennys. He then does an “Oh Oh!” and lowers his goals a bit.

To view these, just click in the center of the video.

Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America After Visiting Denny’s

Everyone knows how Sr Obama always maintains close contact with the people. Of course not everyone is equal in the colonies!

Poll: Happy, Healthy Obamas Out Of Touch With Miserable Americans

Finally! Always interesting to take a peek at a presidents personal life. Here, we share dinner with the pres, wifey and kiddies!

Obama’s Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner

I met my wife almost 5 years ago. My friends Ray and Patricia invited me over to meet this great woman who, I was told, speaks English fluently. Wonderful, sez I, and off I go!

Well… she was great, but the “speaks English fluently” thing was horsepucky.  However, chemistry being what it is… we started dating and the rest is history. Left out of this history is the fact that I spoke maybe 50 words of Spanish when I met her.  This was good and bad! As she had no desire to learn any English, it was incumbant on ME to learn Spanish, something I had promised myself and others that I woould do… but didn’t. I was immersed… and when she moved in six months later, I was really immersed! My housekeeper spoke only Spanish and my wife spoke only Spanish, and most of my customers speak/spoke only Spanish… so I learned…fast!

One of the cool things I discovered and have written about before, is that I have long felt that when a couple fights, it is very often because the guy says something stupid or thoughtless.   Not always, of course.  The other reason couples fight is when the woman is just being bitchy! Either way, if one person cannot understand the other, there is no fight!

So, for the first year, we never had an argument!

Now of course, I speak Spanish pretty well.  We also now fight on occasion! I am just thrilled to think that if ML is successful, we can then fight in two languages.

The big day was January 1, but we both forgot, so the learning began on the 2nd.  The new rule is, “No Spanish in the house!” and though it is hard to believe, she is keeping to it.  The only time we revert to Spanish is when she is either really emotional or really PO’d. When either of those events occur, she reverts to Spanish,  Ricky Ricardo style! Sadly, when she does the Ricky thing, she speaks so damned fast I don’t understand much anyway. Have I ever mentioned that Costa Rican women tend to the emotional?

I must say though, after almost four weeks, she is doing amazingly well. Of course like most people learning  new language, she speaks a lot in the present tense, and sorta sounds like a Pakistani 711 owner, “Yes, I am owning this store four years now!” but without the funny accent.

We speak English for maybe one or two hours daily and more on weekends.  So far, her patience has been quite unbelievable and as regular readers know… my wifey is not known for her patience.

We shall see!  If I suddenly stop blogging and do not answer emails, you will know she has killed me.

As my readers know, I am not overly fond of spiders, but I DO admire their work. I have had a couple of bad experiences with spiders in the house, one of which I documented in this Blog.

We have a beautiful patio covered with a roof.  Around the patio runs a small hedge at a height of maybe 2 feet.

The other evening, I was out enjoying the beautiful evening. Twilight and early evening are just spectacular here. I know for a fact that the web was not there.

Early the next morning, I walked out on the patio and see this web. I took several pictures, but they do not seem to convey the sheer size of this overnight work.  The web is attached to the top of the hedge at the bottom and to the eave of the roof at the top.  That is a distance of about six feet. This ambitious little critter constructed the whole thing betweem about 8 PM in the evening and 6 AM in the morning. Figuring it not to last, I took the pictures, and in fact, by mid-day, it had disappeared. December and January in Costa Rica are very windy months, and between the constant movement of the hedge and the pressure of the wind, the web succumbed.

Oddly, I never did see the spider who created this web. After all the work and spinning a web that should have made for a nice home and steady food supply… she apparently abandoned in before daylight, or was hiding somewhere in the eaves.

Click on the photo the the right to see an enlarged version showing the detail.  Incredible!

I am not sure how many North Americans realize just how ridiculous they look to people in other countries always trying to be Politically Correct (PC). Free speech is no longer an option in the US as there is always some joker looking over your shoulder and telling you how to think, act, and what to say… or what not to say.

Like so many things in the US, PC seemed like such a good idea at the time, but then morphed into idiocy. It just got carried too far… kinda like trade unions, women’s lib and so many other truly good ideas gone bad. Good concepts… overdone.

Of all of them, one of the dumbest (in my opinion) is one of the more popular phrases spoken by young couples regarding a woman’s pregnancy. The PC thing to say is, “We are pregnant”.

Unless it is two women speaking these words, this is perhaps the most ridiculous statement one could utter. I have news for you. WE (the men) are NOT pregnant. YOU (the women) are! I have done pregnancies and it is not the man who has to pee every 11 minutes and who knows the location and condition of every bathroom within 50 miles of his home. It is not the man who cannot sleep at night because getting comfortable just ain’t a happenin’. It is not the man with sore feet, back pain and hemorrhoids. Now I suppose an argument could be made that a woman may not suffer the above issues in silence… but that is not always the case and in fact the many pregnant women I have known tended not to make their partners miserable with constant and ongoing commentary.

This is NOT the case with menopause. Menopause is interactive!

If you men really want to share an experience with your partner, I suggest menopause! I can testify to this! When that female person in your life is entering or is in menopause (which, by the way lasts years… not nine months of which only few are nasty), you may safely say to anyone “We are in menopause” and be dead on the money! You, my man, WILL be in menopause and I can assure you that any semblance between the women you married and the women living with you now and wearing your ring is purely coincidental.

I have had the pleasure of having three such women in my life, including the normally sweet and loving women to whom I am married. With the first two, I was hit, was screamed at, had one chase me in the kitchen with a knife… the list goes on.

ML is in menopause and I can assure you with no political correctness intended that WE are in menopause. It is a truly amazing experience. One moment ML is this sweet cuddly woman who then transforms, without notice, into this…. ummmm… thing. I say “thing” because all my training and education forsake me. I feel as if Rod Serling is somehow taking me in and out of my own personal Twilight Zone. I can I see my wife clearly, then she changes and sadly, I have no idea what is coming. This does not happen in the privacy of our home. Ohhh no! This happens in restaurants, grocery stores, the car and it never seems to be the same. No action is correct. If I keep still waiting for it to pass, I get the “you’re not listening” thing. If I speak, I am being rude. Nights are the best. There is no correct temperature in the house and I am informed of this between 3 and 142 times each night. Fan ON Fan OFF Blanket ON Blanket OFF Husband Sleeping Husband UP! Hold Me! Get Away! Any semblance between this and a pregnant wife is… well… there is none.

So WE change/try medicines. We try pills and dosages (Yes, I take them all as I hope one will make me sleep until she is out of menopause. In fact I wonder if the true story was that Rip Van Winkle had a menopausal wife!).

We try natural medicines that other women say will work like magic, They lie!

We are now trying this jelly stuff that she spreads on her arm! It smells exactly like that antiseptic hand gel you can buy. Supposedly, it absorbs. It does… after an hour. It also does not work. We change dosages. We increase… we decrease. She visits her doctor who commiserates, changes medicine and dosages, then checks her mutual fund to make sure she is heavily bought in to pharmaceuticals.

I think my average reader is perhaps not at the We Are Pregnant stage but maybe more in the We Are in Menopause stage… the Autumn of life.

But for you young men who truly want to “share” your wife’s experiences… just wait a while, like maybe twenty years or so, and remember my words. Only then will you truly understand the concept of sharing.

Me? I am still experimenting with her drugs. The good news is that I no longer have to shave as much. The bad news is that none of her prescriptions make me sleep. I think five years would be enough after which WE will no longer be in menopause!

Lately, however, I see people who are just so unhappy living in the USA that their questions are not so much asking about my views as asking about if things will be better living here. Recently I wrote something about how I felt the USA was broken and needed repair. That was less a political statement than my observations from afar. Saying that, I guess if readers really want to know about life here, will it be better than living in the USA, will their life issues resolve themselves by moving here, maybe it is not a bad idea to address this.

So… if my personal opinions and politics are of interest, read on!

First, let me say I dearly love the USA. Not everything of course… but I have traveled this world and I have not yet seen a better country. Second, let me say in no uncertain terms, that moving to any country because you do not like the current administration, politics, social environment etc. will not change anything in your life. You cannot run away from yourself. It is the dumbest reason to pack up and leave. Moving here because you are seeking a “more simple lifestyle” is the number two stupid reason for leaving your country. Nothing is simple here as many come to find. Costa Rica is not better. It is just different. Whomever you blame for your current situation, I can assure you it is not George Bush, Bill Clinton nor any other US leader and leaving your country because of any politician is just silly.

So why move at all? There are many good reasons. Although Costa Rica is getting more and more expensive every day, it is still cheaper to live here than just about anywhere in the USA. A lot of 55-65 years olds are now discovering that they will not be able to sustain a post retirement lifestyle if all they have is their social security. This is sad, but when FDR set up social security and ever since, it was NEVER intended to be the sole source of income after retirement. So moving here because of financial necessity is certainly a valid reason for considering an expat lifestyle.

Another good reason is, I guess, the desire to live and learn a different culture.

Me? I made the mistake of reading a lot of Hemmingway when I was in my teens, and ever since, I had this desire to live like the characters in his novels, all expats living in France or Spain… drinking coffee in cool Bohemian haunts… you get the idea. Well it is NOT like that I promise… but for me, it is fun!

Regardless of your reasons for wanting to live elsewhere, I would urge you not to just sell the farm and move here. One of the largest movers of people from the USA to Costa Rica said the other day that he is now moving more than half of his customers back to the USA within a year. It seems to be a lot harder for women to adjust to the expat life… especially those with children and grandkids. They think they can adjust to not being there for graduations, proms, and the zillion daily events in the lives of their families, but many simply cannot live without family and friends.

Politics

To explain how I feel about the coming presidential election, it is best just to write about my thought processes. I am sure some will concur an others will not agree. I do not care. I have voted both Democrat and Republican over the years and I find no one party capable of producing anything special. For many years now, my choice was based on who I thought would do the least damage while in office. Sad.

One of my pet peeves is those boneheads who vote for a person based solely on one issue e.g. abortion, immigration, death penalty… whatever. The job of president entails so much more and to eliminate a good person from consideration because of his belief on one issue is just not intelligent. I am personally for gun control, against abortion, for tough (but fair) immigration, strongly against the death penalty (not in principle but because there are just too many screwups in the system sending innocent persons to death row), and for most environmental issues. Those are just a few and of course there are others.

Now saying that, for the first time, I will be voting almost entirely based on one issue. Guess that makes me a hypocrite! So be it.

Here is how I view this years offerings:

Obama

I think he is generally a decent man. His push for change hits a chord in many people. I question seriously his general experience, his total lack of knowledge on international affairs, and most importantly, his judgment. His recent difficuties relating to the racist hate monger, Jeremiah Wright, a man he states was and is one of the leading persons of influence in his life. He continued and continues to maintain a relationship with the good pastor. As a sitting US senator, his should have done everything in his power to confront this animal and failing that, completely disassociate himself from him and his hate mongering. Can you imagine if any white presidential candidate (or for that matter any white person with a modicum of moral and ethical beliefs) attended services where attacks against the US were supported and racism against Blacks was preached regularly? I can not. Most people would instantly stand up and leave! Obama should have done that. As a senator, he simply can NOT tolerate racism, regardless of the source.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I can now see why Obama’s wife made her recent comments about forever being ashamed of the USA. She and Obama have been exposed to racial hatred (both Black AND White) for years, and neither, despite the obvious blessings both received from “white America” can have escaped the lessons taught my this “most influential figure in my life”.

Wright preaches racial hatred and separation to Black adults and children, and now comes Obama looking to make change and bring the country together. Huh? I see no way a man who supports an anti-white hate monger can possibly have the ability to resolve the many racial issues still facing the US. He should have years ago dealt with this man. He did not. Silence to me, is a form of support or concurrence.

Clinton

So now comes Hillary Clinton telling all who will listen that SHE has the experience to run the country. As far as I have ever been able to see, her experience is pretty much limited to sleeping with Bill (at times) while HE was president. Other than that, her only attempt at accomplishing anything while passing the years in the White House, related to her dismal attempt to establish a national health care plan, a total fiasco, even though Clinton’s popularity was at a high. As a matter of fact, she pissed off everyone! Even her personal staff hated her. So she is the one to pull the country together? She does not get along with people. Can you imagine Hillary as president working hand-in-hand with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, another person who alienates a LOT of people?? Oh yeah, I can imagine getting a LOT done.

Both of these people make enemies more often than my wife makes coffee.

The Clinton’s usual process is to change position on everything. Bill did it. Now Hillary is too. I recall early in the campaign her comments that she did not really care about the Michigan and Florida primary votes not counting. I HEARD the interview. She was most clear. Of course, at the time, she was far ahead of Obama and I suppose in her mind, there was just no way she could lose the nomination.

Well now, Obama has waxed her beans and HE has the lead! Now she want the Michigan and Florida votes. Says she always did! She does not want all those poor Dems to be disenfranchised! I bet she doesn’t! Oddly, she was the only candidate to campaign in Michigan as the other candidates honored the Democratic Nacional Committee’s warning about the early primary. Cool huh? So Hillary, knowing Obama did not even campaign in Michigan, now wants those votes for herself. How typically 100% Clinton. Nothing changes. The Clintons are good at this stuff, and I do not like it. I guess I also figure Bill had his presidency, and I cannot imagine what he would be doing if Hillary wins. Somehow, I do not see him on the golf course every day. I picture him spending a LOT of time hanging around the Oval Office and one time, for any president, is enough. No replays.

McCain

What an odd duck is John McCain.

He sure is not a Republican, at least not in the sense many have defined Republicans. He crosses party lines whenever he choses. He pisses off the “real” conservatives which may be his undoing. He is like the Republican version of Joe Lieberman, (one of my favorite politicians! I would have voted for him in 2000.). He makes enormously unpopular statements like “We’ll be in Iraq for 100 years”. Inflammatory surely, but probably 100% correct as we NEVER leave a country after a conflict. Hell, we are STILL in South Korea after 50+ years!

McCain seems to me to at least take a position even though unpopular. He supports our position in Iraq. NOT a popular position. I personally hate that we are there and wish we had not invaded, but we did. SO now, Obama and Clinton want us out NOW. Looks right on paper. Sorta like communism looks good but does not work in reality. However, neither Obama nor Clinton EVER address the major issue of what happens if we just pull out! Can you imagine the massacres? It would certainly rival the 600,000 South Vietnamese killed after we left Saigon. Further, can you imagine Osama and Al-Qaeda with those oil revenues that they would most certainly receive should we leave? Just what I want! A well-funded Al-Qaeda!

As Pakistan is very unstable and chuck full of Al-Qaeda (and Pakistan has the bomb, BTW), I now see Al-Qaeda with a ton of money and the bomb. Swell!

McCain is older than dirt… hell – he is older than ME. While not a huge issue, it certainly will be important who McCain selects as his running mate. How interesting would be a McCain/Lieberman ticket! Lieberman endorsed McCain last year and that to me meant something because of my respect for Lieberman. Never happen I suppose, but fun to think about.

So have you figured out MY one issue? National Security.

Hate or love Bush, the one thing most important to me is that there has not been a repeat of 9-11 in 7 years.

I have children and grandkids living in Chicago, certainly a potential target city for Al-Qaeda and other terrorists groups, so this year, I will vote for the person who I feel will keep them safest. My only concern.

Trying to placate Osama and his crew would be about as useful as was placating Hitler before WW2. Didn’t work. Won’t work. Whoever is in the Oval Office has got to be ruthless on defense of the United States. At this point, Obama and Clinton want nothing more than to pander to those who want out of Iraq, but fail to present solutions to what happens if we depart. In fact, over the years, the Democrats have generally NOT been strong on military issues (except another favorite, Harry Truman), choosing instead to place more money in social programs, a generally good idea, but that, like Communism, seldom works in reality (unless you live in Costa Rica, a non-target for everyone!).

At this point, it will likely be McCain.

Intelligent comments welcome!

After all the planning and enough food to feed 50 people, the thing is over! I’m speaking of our annual Fiesta del Arbol.

I have no idea how many people were here. A shitpot full seems about right, and a LOT of them were kids which made the whole thing just great. Kids are  soooo cool at Christmas!

We had purchased an artificial tree complete with 1,000 lights. It stands just under eight feet tall, just perfect for our living room,but the thought of assembling that sucker had me not sleeping at night, and I left it in the box in the garage until the last minute… yesterday. I had visions of adding the lights, all the branches… ugh!

I have now officially changed my opinion of fake Christmas trees.

My son Will ws coming (of course with granddaughter Lucia and his wife). He was the designated helper.

We loaded the thing into the house and opened it.

As Gomer would say, “Surprise! Surprise!” . The darned thing came in three parts with all those stupid little lights already installed! The entire “set-up” time from opening the box to turning on the lights was NINE MINUTES! And… the package contained not only a remote control for turning the lights on and off (an idea whose time has arrived!), but also a motorized thingy that rotates the tree! I passed on the rotating tree dealy thinking of how the cats might find a rotating tree with dangly things just too much of an attraction.

Immediately, the kids began to decorate, and the whole tree was done in thirty minutes… no tears! It looks very nice, though I think we will later add a few more ornaments and other goodies to make it a more personal.

Also, as those 1,000 lights came pre-installed, it did not look like other trees from past years.

This was the best of the tree parties by far. ML is already planning next year’s party.

I cannot imagine anything more boring than watching someone else’s home movies or pictures, but if you really have the urge, find the party photos here.

ML has invited Costa Rica to come to our home for the annual tree decorating thing. Well of course she did not invite the whole country, just her relatives which is no more then ten percent of the people here. My son, his wifey and my granddaughter are coming too, so there will be some representation from North America. I invited some childless friends to attend but they suddenly had other things to do. Even free booze could not budge them when faced with 20 plus children.

A large number of these people will be under the age of 15. Maria has been cooking for two days and the house smells super. Maritza baked a cake last night, but had to bake another one today as I sort of ate the one from yesterday. My sweet tooth coupled with chocolate is an issue around here… and especially around the holidays.

I actually love these parties. Ticos do know how to enjoy a party and my wife’s family, with a few notable exceptions, are great people. Christmas is for kids and I am generally popular with the youngsters who may confuse my stomach with that of Senior Clause, especially after that cake episode!

I am not going to rehash what it is like at these parties as I have blogged about this here and here, so you can just click those links if you need background on the cultural differences I face at party time.

I cannot believe I bought an artificial tree! When I lived up North, buying the tree was an event! We almost always traveled away from Chicago to the tree farms in northern Illinois and cut exactly the right one. It always stayed fresh and of course it was “perfect”. We returned home with frozen feet and warm hearts. I would build a fire in the fireplace and then enjoy hot chocolate with marshmallows!

Here, you too can cut it fresh, and we have done that in past years. The issue is the trees, while true “pine” trees, are skinny and just do not “look” like Christmas trees! The fresh ones lasted of course, but the lot-bought ones kinda faded early. The really good ones, imported from the US are very expensive so we just decided the go artificial.

ML picked a nice style that came with 1,000 lights. It is now in the garage awaiting the tree decorating thing tomorrow.

As there is “some” assembly required, it may be smart to go unpack it and get the tree and the lights up and ready, leaving the hanging of balls, tinsel, whatever for tomorrow. Ticos have a reputation of sorta getting sauced early, especially if the booze is free, and the thought of another badly decorated tree makes me tend to the cautious side.

So tomorrow represents our start to the Christmas holidays, and I want to wish Happy Holidays to my readers and to anyone who has mis-clicked and found this blog by accident.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Just goes on and on huh? Why am I not surprised.  Sheesh!