Robb and I watched the live Grand Finals of the European Song Contest which is held every year around this time. Every European country (and Isreal for some reason) has an entry. Most of them are nothing outstanding, but a few are truly unique. This year, I selected Russia , Sweden and Albania as my choices for the top prize. The actual winners were Sweden, Russia and Serbia. Because Sweden won this year, next year's competition will be held in Stockhom. The one outstanding thing, in my opinion, is that the French singer sang in English as well as French, and the French presenter spoke English. I can't remember that ever happening before. Maybe it's the new President. If you've never seen the competition, I do recommend you watch at least once. You can see it live at the website listed above. You can also see this (and previous) year's performances there and on You Tube.
Our trip is falling apart because of the inability of Robb's French bank (BNP Paribas) to realize this is 2012 not 1912, and a check that seems to have gotten lost in the mail somewhere between Fort Lauderdale and Paris. The bank insists Robb send everything through snail mail. It has already cost us the aprtment in Montpellier.
Friday night (again), we decided to hop over to a local pub, The Manor on Wilton Drive. I had no sooner parked, than we saw a place with flashing lights off to our right. We went over to have a look and it was a Latino AIDS benefit of some sort. We bought our tickets and went inside. There were very few people there, mostly males. The only thing they had to drink was Stolichnaya with assorted mixers. We each had one with tonic, and wandered around for awhile. Then we went outside and struck up a conversation with the DJ, Jared Michaels. He was really a super nice guy and we had quite a chat. He also showed us how his DJ mixer worked. Very interesting. We finished our drinks and made our way over to the Manor. The crowd was just starting to arrive and by the time we left (around 02h30) the place was humming.
I have two smartphones. A Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, which I got from AT&T for $.01 (one penny), and an HTC Clone, which I bought from a Chinese company named Alibaba. The SE Xperia is a great phone and takes really good pictures as well (after all,, it is a Sony product). But when I saw the HTC with it's large screen (4.3 inches) and it's newer OS (Android 2.2), I couldn't resist. The real deal clincher is the fact that it has dual SIM card slots, so when we're in Europe, I just insert my European SIM in one of the slots and I'm good to go. It, too, takes great pictures and the camera is 8.1mp, as is the Xperia. Everything was fine until the SD card in the HTC decided to go south. Tuesday, I took it to a place that allegedly repairs cell phones. The guy there told me that it wasn't working because it was supposed to be a Windows phone and the OS was changed. Now, I'm not a rocket scientist, but that just didn't make sense. If it wasn't going to work because the OS was changed, it wouldn't have worked for all those months before it went south. Long story short, I brought it home and fixed it myself and probably saved about fifty dollars by so doing.
We are planning a trip to Europe. We'll fly to Aeroport Charles de Gaulle, ride to Paris where, after a couple of weeks, we will board a train at Gare de Lyon to Montpellier, in the south of France. After Montpellier, we'll take another train to Bordeaux, followed by a trip to Madrid and then home. The purpose of this trip is to look into the possibility of buying a place in France. Places are a lot less expensive in southern France, or even just outside of Paris, so we'll probably find something we like and hope we can afford. We're still debating the itineary. It may only be to Montpellier and Bordeaux.
Remember what I wrote about there being no dumber animal than a Republican? Check out this headline: "Self-loathing gay republican groups attack Obama for supporting their rights" I rest my case.
Friday night we went to Scandals for some sight seeing and a drink. It was crowded, but it was Friday night and they're open till 03h00. I ordered two Bear Claw drinks because neither of us knew what they might be. They were slushies with rum. Robb recognized it immediately, but I had no idea. I don't usually like rum,, but these were pretty good. We saw a couple people from the condo, but most of them were strangers. One guy came over and started talking to us, then invited himself to sit at our table. According to him, he's deaf but he reads lips. If that's true, he does so really good.
The French have a new President, Monsieur François Hollande (don't pronounce the 'H'.) He is the leader of the Socialist Party of France. Oh oh, the Boogeyman! The Us should learn something from the French elections.....but they won't. I'm willing to bet that the defeated party will NOT do everything they can to make the new president look bad in spite of how bad their actions may be for their country.
Thursday afternoon - Either there is an air show underway, or we're under attack. So many super fast, super noisy jets. The air show that was scheduled for Sunday was canceled because it was too cloudy to see the planes.
I just read a headline pooh-poohing the idea that the Iranians could back-engineer the US drone they shot down. It's time for a wake-up call Unirted States. Some of the best engineers in the world are from the Middle East area. An example: who do you think designed and built all the buildings and bridges from which Cheney made a few billion after his pal Bush bombed them?
There cannot possibly be a dumber animal on the face of the earth than a Republican! Remember when, before Bush, most people said it doesn't matter for whom you vote because they're all the same? That's no longer true. Something nasty has happened to Republicans and so now, it definitely makes a difference when you cast your vote. If you hate women, gays, latinos, teachers, postmen, unions, children, medicare and social security, by all means vote Republican.
